The Irish junior riders had a mixed day out on the second, and final, stage of the UCI-ranked Gipuzkoa Klasika in the Basque Country, with strong finishes coupled with attacks during the stage - and some crashes.
Top Irish finisher on the day was Willem O'Connor of the E Tarrant & Sons LTD Skoda Munster team. However, while some of his team mates - and Joseph Mullen (Zappi Racing) - gave a very good account of themselves, there was also some very bad luck late in the day.
Munster rider David Gaffney, a first-year junior, rode very well on the opening stage, taking 17th just eight seconds behind the winner after making the grade when the hammer went down on the final climb to the finish line. However, on stage 2 he suffered very bad luck.
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The final stretch to the line yesterday saw Gaffney crash, with just 500 metres to go, when the rider in front of him came down. And with no 3km rule in place to spare him from time loss on the general classification, Gaffney limped home 77th on the stage at 1:25 and unfortunately slid down the GC to 23rd.
For O'Connor, who had been on the attack on the opening stage until the base of the final climb, yesterday's stage was another successful one. When the field split in the final, O'Connor made the front group in the bunch, of just 26 riders.
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Unfortunately for them, a breakaway had already gone up the road late in the day. That was comprised of stage 1 winner Baptiste Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ U19 Team), king of the hills Marco Martin (Bizkaiko Selekzioa), points jersey Jurgen Zomermaand (Willebrord Wil Vooruit) and Johan Blanc (Groupama-FDJ U19 Team).
They survived out front to fight it out for stage victory, with Spanish rider Martin winning the day but Frenchman Grégoire - younger brother of Groupama-FDJ World Tour rider Romain Grégoire - claimed the overall victory.
O'Connor was in the next group, at 10 seconds, and sprinting for 5th place. He finished in 19th place. Mullen was in the next group, a further 10 seconds back, to take 33rd on the stage and 21st overall, best of the Irish.
Munster's Cal Tutty finished in 35th yesterday at 54 seconds while team mate Michael Collins also put in a strong ride yesterday, spending some time on the attack before finishing in 74th at 1:25.
