The Irish team rode very well on the opening six stages. But the final three days, in the Alps, saw crashes, illness and the high mountains take their toll.
Three Irish riders finish Tour de l’Avenir
Three Irish riders have survived the Tour de l’Avenir after nine bruising stages in France.
Crash injuries forced Ryan Reilly out and illness saw to Mark Downey. And yesterday Michael O’Loughlin was forced out.
The Irish U23 national champion was hit by a double whammy; illness and a crash.
He put in a great breakaway ride on Wednesday’s stage 6. But he was caught on the finishing straight and had to settle for 7th; still a tidy result.
Thursday’s rest day should have set him up for a shot at the big mountains of the last three stages.
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But he would fall ill with stomach problems as the race reached the mountains. That destroyed any chance of showing what he could really do.
And that illness, combined with injuries from a crash on the last descent on Saturday’s penultimate stage, meant he didn’t start yesterday.
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Irish U23 champion Michael O'Loughlin was forced out before the start of yesterday's stage. Daire Feeley was one of three Irish riders to finish the Tour de l'Avenir.
As a result, three Irish riders remained in the race of the six who started out; Daire Feeley, Matt Teggart and Darragh O’Mahony.
The final stage was short at 103.7km. But it wasn’t one for the feint hearted.
The race went up the HC Col de la Madeleine at the halfway point. And it concluded with another summit finish up the cat 1 Col du Mollard.
Matt Teggart was best of the Irish yesterday; finishing in 40th place at 14:17. Darragh O’Mahony was 54th at 20:21 and Daire Feeley was 98th at 26:33.
Russian Pavel Sivakov won the day, by 2:31 from Neilson Powless of America. A group of 10 men including yellow jersey Egan Arley Bernal finished a further 30 seconds back.
Consequently, the 20-year-old Colombian, who has just signed for Team Sky for three years, retained yellow to lift the 2017 crown.
Tour de l'Avenir final standings
Sivakov, already the winner of the Baby Giro this year, took the climbers’ classification; which Ireland’s Teggart headed for half the race.
Kristoffer Halvorsen of Norway, the U23 world champion, took the points category. He won stage 3 and wasn’t out of the top four on the opening six stages.
In conclusion, Teggart ran out 42nd overall while O’Mahony and Feeley were 96th and 97th.
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