Meehan on the attack at Tour Alpes-Maritimes as Irish youngs get going

Jamie Meehan was on the attack at Tour des Alpes-Maritimes as young Irish riders ramped up their seasons with a weekend of racing (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)

Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) was up the road at Tour des Alpes-Maritimes (1.1) today, Sunday, on a weekend when Ireland's young Irish riders ramped up their season, some taking in their first European races of the campaign.

Meehan put in a strong shift in France today, getting away shortly after the start, in an event that also included Liam O'Brien and Seth Dunwoody who were riding for their Lidl-Trek and Bahrain Victorious World Tour line-ups respectively.

As was the case last year, when he moved to Cofidis mid-season, Meehan has shown no fear in going on the attack and has been immediately able to get stuck into the racing at the front at this higher level of competition.

However, though he got clear in an early move on Sunday, which also included his team mate Edoardo Zamperini, they were kept on a tight leash before being swept up by the peloton, before the race was decided on the final climbs.

Advertisement

On the penultimate climb, Côte de Gourdon, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) and Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling) were among a small group that got clear, and that duo stayed away until the final climb to the line.

However, they had no more than 20 seconds as that final ascent began and were swept up by the chasing group of about a dozen riders. Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) surged out of the group to win by two seconds from Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team), with Meehan's team mate, Simon Carr, placing 3rd at the same time.

After his breakaway efforts earlier in the race, Meehan was 31st at 2:48, O'Brien was 88th at 22:46 and Dunwoody, racing on hilly terrain not really suited to him, as a non finisher.

Related News

On Saturday, O'Brien and Dunwoody were in action at Classic Var (1.1), won by Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies) in a sprint from a small bunch. O'Brien was 59th at 52 seconds while Dunwoody was 80th at 1:29.

Darren Rafferty (EF Education EasyPost) also completed his first stage race of the season this weekend at Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta (2.Pro), placing 29th overall, some 10:17 down on Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), who won the final stage to retain his leader's jersey.

Over in Spain, Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco Women's Continental Team) was in action at Clasica de Almeria (1.Pro), where she as a non-finisher. The race was won by Italian Federica Venturelli (UAE Team ADQ).

Related News