Dillon Corkery has put in another very strong performance in France, where the Irish rider took 4th place today on stage 2 at Tour du Pays de Montbéliard (2.2) n the department of Doubs The 23-year-old now also looks set to take a general classification result as the field split to pieces today and he gained time.
Only 19 riders were left at the front, as the bunch was reduced to a select group, after 162km of racing into Pont-de-Roide, with Corkery among that group and getting up at the finish. He told stickybottle he regretted the way he had approached the finale of the stage, saying he could have attacked on the final climb but chose to wait for a sprint.
However, he was left frustrated at the finish as he felt he could have done much better had he not hung back a little in the gallop, saying he should have kicked for the line himself much earlier than he did.
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“I didn’t know if I’d get over the climbs or not today,” said Corkery of today’s stage, run over six laps of a circuit with two climbs on each lap. “But I’ve lost a fair bit of weight and didn’t really suffer today it was just placement before the climbs and you could do well.
“Every time we would blow boys out the back but I never looked behind me. And then with 10km to go I saw there was maybe only 20 boys in the group. So I thought the sprint was the best option for me but I should have looked for time and attacked on the final climb. It was 1km at 10 per cent I had the legs to do it….”
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Corkery has come into this race after a run of strong results, including 5th in the recent Paris-Troyes (1.2) and taking two top 10 placings on stages at Tour d'Eure-et-Loir (2.2).
Today's stage at Tour du Pays de Montbéliard was won by Arnaud Tendon (Tudor Pro Cycling) from Mattéo Vercher (Vendée U) and Lars Hohmann (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel), with Corkery next and Matthew Dinham (Team BridgeLane) in 5th.
Corkery started the race by taking 17th in Friday's prologue TT; a 4.1km test from Mandeure to Mathay. The stage was won by Michael Kukrle (Elkov-Kasper), with Corkery 17th at 34 seconds. While the Czech rider was in the front group today, and so retains his leader's jersey, Corkery has moved up to 8th overall, at 25 seconds.
Tomorrow's final stage is another circuit race, with slightly more modest climbing, over 155km starting and finishing in Valentigney.
