It was a mixed day for the Irish at the Tour de l'Avenir, with the general classification hopes still intact but some very strong riders in the Irish line-up hitting the deck. Both Liam Curley and Adam Ward were among the victims of the crashes.
While Ward was able to remount after his incident with about 20km to go, Liam Curley was not so fortunate. The EvoPro Racing rider came down twice and unfortunately he is out of the race.
Curley (22) was regarded as a high value rider in the team, especially if Archie Ryan can get himself into a strong general classification position when the race hits the big climbs. And with a 27.9km TTT to come on stage 5, Curley would have been a powerhouse in the middle of the Irish team driving on the pace.
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He has ridden very well for his trade team, against ProContinental and World Tour rivals, in races in recent months and came into this race in great condition. His crashing out of the event is, in the first instance, a huge blow for him personally but also weakens the team right at the start of the race.
On today's 121.6km stage starting and finishing in La Roche-sur-Yon a breakaway that had well over a minute with less than 15km to go was brought back, paving the way for what appeared like a nail on bunch sprint.
However, 22-year-old Norwegian Søren Wærenskjold attacked off the front of the bunch in the final kilometre, with the other riders at the front unable to match his huge turn of power. He pulled out a small gap and though he took time to celebrate his win he still had a one second advantage over the bunch.
Sebastian Kolze Changizi of Denmark took 2nd place just behind him, with Sam Watson of Great Britain in 3rd place.
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The bunch was trimmed back to 110 riders, of the 162 starters, with Irish riders Dean Harvey, Archie Ryan and Darren Rafferty finishing in the group. While Kevin McCambridge was further back, he suffered a puncture in the final 3km and so was credited with the same time as the bunch.
Ward paid the price for his crash - well outside the 3km to go marker - and he finished in a group at 6:56, though the Rás Tailteann stage winner, and now second-time Tour de l'Avenir rider, was at least able to finish the stage.
While Ryan is the main general classification in the team, Rafferty has also shown himself at world class standard in the U23 ranks this year. His presence in the main bunch - with Harvey and McCambridge - represented a good return today for Ireland, even though Curley was forced out.
The fact yesterday's opening prologue TTT does not count towards the general classification means the general standings are exactly the same as today's stage result, with the very Wærenskjold now leading the race.
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