Jamie Meehan up road for over 100km at Route d'Occitanie

Jamie Meehan was up the road for most of the day on the opening stage at La Route d'Occitanie-CIC (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)

Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) appears to be getting more confident with every race in his neo-pro year, with the Donegal rider up the road for over 100km on the opening stage today, Thursday, at La Route d'Occitanie-CIC (2.1).

And though they were caught before the finish, Meehan collected time bonuses while out front during the 171.5km stage and is now in 3rd overall thanks to his efforts.

With the race down to three stages this year, the Irishman will now hope to hold tight tomorrow before the big showdown on Saturday, with 3,500m of climb and five categorised climbs.

On today’s stage to Saint-Paul-Cap-de-Joux, in the south of France, Meehan got away after about 15km in a four-man breakaway.

For company he had Oliver Mattheis (Bike Aid), Théo Delacroix (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), and Laurens Huys (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), though they were kept on a tight leash.

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They raced into the finish town, for two laps of a circuit of approximately 45km, still out front but were caught with one lap to go, after about 110km in the breakaway.

Meehan then suffered a mechanical and was forced into a frantic chase in a bid to maintain his general classification position, secured via his time bonuses.

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He made it back just before the finish, where Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ United) won the sprint for stage victory from an 80-man group.

Estonian national champion Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost) was 2nd and Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike) placed 3rd.

Meehan rolled over the line in 66th and is now 3rd on general classification, some four seconds down on race leader Gruel.

The race continues tomorrow with a 200.5km stage from Cordes-sur-Ciel to Saint-Gaudens, with a lumpy finale, featuring three cat 3 climbs in the final 40km.

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