Irish U23 riders Jamie Meehan (AVC Aix Provence Dole) and Liam O'Brien (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) have continued their very strong 2025 season, sharing a podium in UCI-ranked racing in France and just being beaten to the win.
The Irish duo - 2nd overall in Rás Tailteann and Ronde de l'Isard (2.2U) last weekend - today found themselves battling it out with riders from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Groupama FDJ development teams in the final of the last stage at Alpes Isère Tour (2.2).
Both Irish riders made their move off the front as the field split to pieces on the climbs and with the cream rising to the top. Meehan, in particular, pushed the pace in the attacks a very long way from the finish, staying at the front of the race once he made his first move.
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O'Brien got across to him later in the day in a chasing group of the strongest riders that left the peloton behind on a tough climb. The Irish duo were then among five riders that went to the finish; the best of a 20-rider group that had formed before the last climb.
How it unfolded
On the 181km stage from Saint-Joseph-de-Rivière to La Mure, the first key split occurred on the second climb - the 14.8km Côte de Marjeuil crested with 97km remaining. Meehan was to the fore at that point, getting clear on the climb with Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Continental) and Gauthier Servranckx (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team).
Three riders soon got across to them; Louic Boussemaere (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale DT), Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic PostNL) and Thomas William Smith (Visma-Lease a Bike Development). And as the main field regrouped behind them, after the damage done by the climb, the elastic snapped and the leading six soon had a gap of two minutes.
That gap had gone out to almost three minutes about 30km later when Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Continental) attacked the breakaway; going solo even though there remained 62km to the finish. By the time the breakaway men reached the Col de Parquetout - 7km at 9.8 gradient - with just over 55km to go, their gap had dropped to 1:30.
Gauthier Servranckx (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team), Louic Boussemaere (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale DT) and Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic PostNL) were dropped from the breakaway on the climb, though Meehan was still looking good. In the peloton, O'Brien and his team mates were attacking, splitting the bunch on the climb.
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Gauthier Servranckx (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team) and Meehan soon found themselves at the front of the race, catching and passing Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Continental), who had earlier attacked from the breakaway. However, Daumas kept his cool and managed to get back on to Servranckx and Meehan, making for a three-man breakaway.
As Meehan moved clear in that three-man group, Liam O'Brien (Lidl Trek Future Racing) got himself into a small chase group that was pursuing the men ahead. And with just over 30km to go, O'Brien's group caught Meehan's group, making for 10 riders at the front.
Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Continental) attacked solo not long after the two groups joined forces and with 20km to go he had a gap of 45 seconds on the O'Brien-Meehan group, with another 10 men only a further 20 seconds back. Those two groups merged with just over 15km to go, all chasing lone leader Daumas.
However, though Daumas had a gap of one minute as they raced into the final 10km, the riders still had the Côte de la Mure - 3.6km at 8.5 per cent gradient - to come. And once the leader and chasers hit that climb, four riders pulled clear of the large chase group and caught Daumas with about 2km to go.
O'Brien and Meehan - who have both moved up a level in a serious way this season - were in that four-man group that caught Daumas alongside Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ Continental), Aubin Sparfel (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale DT); the latter the best-placed overall.
At the finish, it was Sparfel who had the legs to reach out and win the stage, just one second up on Meehan in 2nd, O'Brien in 3rd and Decomble in 4th. That was enough to give Sparfel overall victory by 14 seconds from Decomble, with Matteo Vanhuffel (Development Team Picnic PostNL) 3rd at 29 seconds.
O'Brien and Meehan had lost time earlier in the race - a five-stage event - and so they were not vying for the general classification victory today. However, they still moved up the GC with their ride today. Meehan moved up 19 places to 12th overall and O'Brien moved up 18 places to 16th on the final GC. Meehan was also 3rd in the mountains classification.
