A day afrer putting in the ride of his life at La Route d'Occitanie-CIC, Jamie Meehan went again at the gruelling Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)
Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) didn't have much time to recover, or rest on his laurels, after finishing the three-stage La Route d'Occitanie-CIC on Saturday. He took to the start line of the gruelling Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica yesterday, Sunday.
The Donegal rider placed 15th in that race after being in the lead group until deep into the final climb, Coll de la Botella, to the line; the culmination of over 4,000m of climbing in just 125km of racing.
Though a strong ride in itself, especially considering that final ascent was 11.4km, averaging seven per cent, it was far from the highlight of his weekend.
Just 24 hours before riding the event in Andorra, won by Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Meehan had finished 7th on the final stage, and queen stage, at La Route d'Occitanie-CIC (2.1).
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He placed 4th overall, having climbed with the best on that final stage, after initially going up the road, and collecting maximum time bonuses, on Thursday's opening stage.
That 4th place on general classification was the best result of his career in what is now turning into an outstanding neo-pro season for the 22-year-old from Donegal.
Meehan had put himself 3rd overall at La Route d'Occitanie-CIC after the opening stage in France. He got into the breakaway and collected six bonus seconds, followed by a bunch sprint after his group was caught.
He went into a holding pattern on Friday's stage 2 - another bunch sprint - when he finished in the peloton and dropped one place, to 4th. He was four seconds down on race leader, and stage 1 winner, Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ United).
That final stage of the race, on Saturday, took the riders 172km from Loures-Barousse to Loudenvielle, with 3,500m of climbing.
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The route included five categorised climbs - Col de Coupe (cat 3), Côte de l'Escaladieu (cat 3), Hourquette d'Ancizan (cat 1), Col de Val Louron-Azet (cat 1) and the Côte d'Estarvielle (cat 3).
Italian 23-year-old Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) was very much the star of the show; 8th at the Giro this year, and 2nd on this race last year, he attacked solo 5km from the top of the final cat 1.
And though that ascent of Col de Val Louron-Azet was crested just over 30km from the finish, he made it all the way to win the stage and the overall.
He finished 1:42 up on Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), that duo having attacked after the lone leader.
The time gained by the top three on the stage catapulted them into the top three in the final general classification, with Meehan holding his 4th place overall.
He was 7th on that final stage, finishing in an eight-man chasing group 2:05 down on the winner and 23 seconds down on Ruix and Izagirre.
Meehan was also 2nd overall in the young rider classification, won by stage 3 winner and overall victor, Piganzoli.
Tom Pidcock wins Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica 2026! His fourth win of the season. pic.twitter.com/KzBJoGgq5u
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) June 21, 2026
