Jamie Meehan got into against the pros, on trial with World Tour team Cofidis, and has given a very good account of himself at first opportunity (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)

Jamie Meehan has completed his first race with World Tour team Cofidis with a brutal final stage at Tour de l’Ain (2.1) that saw Visma Lease a Bike hit the nuclear button about 90km from the finish to blow the field to pieces.

The Irishman was 3rd on yesterday’s stage 2 and was in contention for a podium placing starting out today’s stage – 3,155m of climbing in just 130km. He fought hard to hold his place as the team mates of Cian Uijtdebroeks set him up for his first professional victory.

Visma Lease a Bike took to the front, committing all of their resources on the Col de la Biche, 90km from finish, with the early breakaway immediately caught and dropped. Just over 10km later, the front group was down to a select group, which soon numbered just seven men.

The last bit of that damage was done by Ben Tulett and Wilco Kelderman, though Tulett showed his quality by remaining in contention for the full stage. Meehan was one of those who opted out of following the Visma Lease a Bike pace on Col de la Biche, but settled into a chasing group.

The front group then raced on to the bottom slopes of the Col du Grand Colombier – 15.3km averaging 7.8 per cent gradient and crested 40km from the finish. Tulett stepped up again, driving the pace so hard that soon only Uijtdebroeks and race leader Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) remained on his wheel.

And with about 12km remaining on the climb, and just over 50km to the finish in Belley, Uijtdebroeks attacked and went solo; riding to the finish to win by 3:05 from Prodhomme. Then came the remains of the select group; a total of just four riders led in for 3rd by Tulett, at 5:33.

Then came an eight-man group that finished just over eight minutes down, with Irish U23 road race champion, Meehan, in the next group on the road; placing 16th at 12:47 on a stage where the final began with two hours of racing remaining.

After finishing in the front group of 29 riders on the opening stage, and placing 3rd on stage 2 when the field split, Meehan’s performance today saw him slip from 7th this morning to 14th in the final general classification, at 13:38.

Though he got a rougher time of it today, when Visma Lease a Bike rode very strongly as a unit, that final GC position, and 3rd place on a stage, demonstrates Meehan is already able to hold his place, and influence the racing, at this level.

His next assignment with Cofidis is the one-day French race, La Polynormande (1.1); a 169km event that will unfold on an undulating circuit. He was also named on the Irish team for Tour de l’Avenir, which begins in two weeks.