Finn Crockett (VolkerWessels Cycling Team), who has recently declared for Ireland, has unfortunately crashed out of Tour de la Mirabelle (2.2) in France today, just 24 hours after winning the opening road stage and taking the yelloe jersey in the race.
Irish U23 road race race champion Jamie Meehan (CC Etupes) was also involved in the same crash today but, thankfully, he was in a position to get back on his back and finish the stage.
It was a bitter blow for Crockett today after he claimed 8th place in the 5.3km TT that opened the race in Verdun on Thursday and then took control of the yellow jersey in the four-stage event, after winning the stage in a manner that put him in with a fantastic chance of winning overall.
Crockett made the breakaway on yesterday's stage, some 152.6km from Mont-Saint-Martin to Jœuf, with that escape group gaining more than one minute on the remains of the peloton.
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The Irish rider went on to claim the stage victory in a two-up sprint from Dutch rider Jan-Willem van Schip (Parkhotel Valkenburg), with Oscar Nilsson-Julien (AVC Aix-en-Provence) 3rd at five seconds. He was followed by Switzerland's Elia Blum (Elite Fondations Cycling Team) at 32 seconds and Jérémie La Grenade (AVC Aix-en-Provence) in 5th at 51 seconds.
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The bunch, which numbered just 55 riders by the finish, was 1:11 back, with Meehan just coming in a few seconds later, in 60th at 1:20.
That result put Crockett into the yellow jersey by two seconds from Van Schip - with Nilsson-Julien 3rd at four seconds - going into today's stage, some 171km from Thaon-Les-Vosges to Villers-Les-Nancy.
However, though Crockett looked on course to retain yellow today, after a breakaway was caught with just over 10km remaining to the finish, he crashed at that point of the race and took no further part in the race.
The stage was won by Clément Izquierdo (AVC Aix-en-Provence) in a sprint from the remains of the peloton, with Meehan finishing in 58th at 1:31 after also coming down in the crash with about 10km remaining.
The new race leader, ahead of the final stage tomorrow, is Frenchman Nilsson-Julien, who has effectively profited from Crockett's misfortune today.
