Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) got his eye in last month at AlUla Tour, with a strong climbing display on the final stage, and now the Donegal man has ridden a really promising 'queen' stage at Tour de la Provence (2.1).
With the riders facing freezing conditions - with snow and rain - it was a very different challenge to that Meehan faced in the scorching desert heat of Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago.
However, when the road kicked on the final climb today, into the snow line, and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) did most of the damage, Meehan showed his grunt, not to mention his ability, to take a solid result on the hardest finish of the season so far.
This is the first time he is riding an early season campaign as a pro, and his climbing - even compared to late last year after a mid-season move to Cofidis - suggests he is still a rider making rapid progress in his career.
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Saturday's 174.9km stage from Forcalquier to Montagne de Lure was marked by plenty of aggression, with an early breakaway forging clear. The stage involved 3,200m of elevation gain. The 6.6km cat Col de Buire was tackled twice - crested at 56.6km and 116km - before the big finish on the cat 1 Station de Lure; some 13.7km and averaging 6.4 per cent gradient.
Quel numéro de Matthew Riccitello ! L'Américain coiffe Rodriguez et s'impose au sommet, superbe ! pic.twitter.com/IcscGolNHv
— BFM Nice Côte d'Azur (@BFMCotedazur) February 14, 2026
And it was on that final climb, after the last of the breakaway men had been overhauled, that the much-reduced peloton, numbering about 35 riders, duked it out.
Rodríguez - offered a four-year lucrative contract extension in a panic move by Ineos Grenadiers in 2023 - looked by far the strongest today, but he still couldn't win.
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He attacked multiple times in the final 5km as the incline continued to the finish line. And though he seemed destinated the break his rivals and win solo, that wasn't what transpired.
The Ineos Grenadiers duo of August and Axel Laurance hammered away at the front on the first part of the climb before their team, Brandon Rivera, took over just inside the 5km to go marker.
The group was now down to about 15 riders, with Ireland's Meehan still in there. And then with about 3.5km to go, and after a big shift from Rivera, Rodríguez took over and surged forward.
He pressed hard several times in a bid to get clear solo, but eventual stage winner Matthew Riccitello, riding his first race for Decathlon CMA CGM, came back to the Spanish star and refused to be left behind.
With about 2km to go, Rodríguez clearly did not want to be caught by two chasers about 20 seconds back - Rivera and Aurélien Paret-Pèintre (Decathlon CMA CGM) - and so kept pounding away, with Riccitello on his wheel.
The plan seemed to be to keep pressing in the hopes young American Riccitello would eventually be distanced. But when the duo stayed together to the line, it was Riccitello who won a very close two-up sprint from Rodríguez.
Rivera was 3rd at 14 seconds and Paret-Pèintre 4th, in the same time. Then came Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana Team), 5th at 28 seconds, followed by August at 44 seconds.
Meehan finished in 16th of the 100-rider field, at 2:03, on a day when 29 minutes covered the winner to last man. With one, mostly flat, stage remaining, Riccitello leads overall by four seconds from Rodríguez, with Rivera 3rd at 20 seconds.
Meehan is 16th overall, at 2:13, and 5th in the young rider classification, some 1:19 down on classification leader - and 2022 Junior Tour of Ireland winner - August.
