Marcus Christie takes U23 leader's jersey, moves up overall against big guns in France

Marcus Christie may be in just his first stage race in the pro ranks; but he has already claimed the first classification leader's jersey of the season for An Post-Chainreaction.

Marcus Christie has followed up his breakaway heroics on yesterday's opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges in France with another solid performance today; staying out of trouble to move up one place overall to 5th and take possession of the U23 classification leader's jersey.

The former Foyle CC rider, who came back to full racing just last year after a number of injury induced years in the wilderness, made the six-man winning escape on yesterday's opening stage. That left him 6th overall and 2nd in the U23 classification.

He finished in the bunch on today's stage 2 - 149km from Nîmes to Saint-Ambroix - which was won in a mass sprint by French speedster Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr).

One of Christie's breakaway companion's from yesterday and the man leading the U23 classification going into today's stage, Belgian Michael Goolaerts (Verandas Willems) lost 35 seconds today to the 137-rider bunch that arrived at the finish together.

That saw him slip from the U23 rider's lead in favour of Christie. The Irishman also benefitted to the tune of moving up one place overall to 5th and is now 16 seconds down on race leader and yesterday's stage winner Sander Helven, a Belgian riding for Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise.

On today's stage, a five-man escape went clear at around 30km. It featured Julien Fouchard (Cofidis), Dimitri Le Boulch (BigMat-Auber 93), Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Thomas Rostollan (La Pomme Marseille 13) and Clément Koretzky (Bretagne-Séché Environnement).

Gaining a lead of four minutes at one stage; that gap was halved by the time they got to the finishing circuit of 7.3km to be negotiated five times. With the sprinters' teams and that of the yellow jersey on the front and the gap tumbling, those out from began attacking each other.

Rostollan emerged the strongest of the escape and made a brave solo bid for glory. His fellow escapees were caught on the fourth of the five finishing loops before the lone leader was caught on the last lap, paving the way for the bunch sprint.

Christie was tucked up safely in the group - as were his Irish team mates Jack Wilson and Conor Dunne. The other Irish An Post-Chainreaction rider in the race, Ryan Mullen lost 1:13.

The flying Christie will now focus on looking after himself over the next two stages, hopeful of losing no time to his general classification rivals, or at least keeping any losses to a minimum. He then has an 11km time trial stage to look forward to on the last day of the UCI ranked 2.1 race on Sunday.

And having ripped up the time trial scene at home last year and gained selection for the U23 time trial at the World Championships in Florence last September, he knows he is capable of something very special if he can stay incident free and in the mix for the next two stages.

It has already been a dream start to his first pro stage race in his first pro season, but the prospect of possibly much more to come will galvanise the team around him.

(Results below advertisement)

February 5^th to 9^th: Etoile de Bessèges (UCI 2.1)

February 6^th, Stage 2: Nîmes - Saint-Ambroix 149km

 General Classification

1	Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	6:59:45
2	Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert	@5
3	Benoît Jarrier (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement
4	Boris Dron (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles	@12
5	Marcus Christie (Irl) An Post - Chain Reaction	Related News Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain @16
6	Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ.fr	@24
7	John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano	@28
8	Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) AG2R la Mondiale	@30
9	Clément Koretzky (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement	@32
10	Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale	@33
11	Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	@34
12	Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
13	Timothy Dupont (Bel) Roubaix Lille Métropole
14	Romain Feillu (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement
15	Erwan Corbel (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement
30	Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post - Chain Reaction
47	Mark McNally (GBr) An Post - Chain Reaction
94	Laurent Vanden Bak (Bel) An Post - Chain Reaction
104	Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post - Chain Reaction
111	Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post - Chain Reaction	@1:47
123	Woute Franssen (Bel) An Post - Chain Reaction	@8:22
149	Kévin Clayes (Bel) An Post - Chain Reaction	@9:47

U23 General Classification