Montgomery best as crashes batter Irish team at U23 Tour of Flanders

David Montgomery on his way to the best result of the Irish team at the U23 Tour of Flanders. It was his first ever international road race (Photo with thanks to Jens Morel)

By Brian Canty

New kid on the block David Montgomery was best of the Irish after a bruising day at the U23 Tour of Flanders this afternoon.

The Team 3M rider finished in a group 6:44 down on winner Alexander Edmondson (Australia) on a day when four Irish were listed as non-finishers along with more than half the field.

The race was the first of three Nations Cup events the six-man Irish team will tackle over the next week.

The men in green head south to France tomorrow to race the Cote de Picardie on Wednesday before heading back up north to the Netherlands for the ZLM Tour next weekend.

Montgomery putting his cyclocross skills to good use on the cobbles in Belgium today when he navigated his way safely around the 177-kilometre course to come home in a very respectable 45th place six minutes down on the winner. It was the first time the Team 3M man raced in the home of the cobbles (Photo with thanks to Jens Morel)

Today’s 177-kilometre slugfest was no place for the feint-hearted and the Irish team’s plans came a cropper when protected rider Ryan Mullen crashed out.

The An Post Chainreaction team man came down after around 100 kilometres while another casualty from that spill was Eoin McCarthy.

While Mullen’s injuries are not serious and he will start the remaining two races, the Corkman came off pretty badly.

He was immediately taken to hospital and required five stitches to close a gash on his hip and two more in his elbow.

Those injuries have ruled him out of the upcoming Picardie and the ZLM Tour, though the team for the latter had yet to be finalised.

McCarthy is expected to be off the bike for up to a week and that will come as a big blow to him having only just recovered from a different crash last month.

If there's anything worse than cobbles when the hammer is down it's wet and greasy cobbles when the hammer is down (Photo with thanks to Jens Morel)

Of the rest of the Irish, Jack Wilson was the only other finisher.

He came home 86^th in a group over nine minutes down having spent much of the day chasing back on after crashes.

He’ll hope for better in the remaining two races but his lack of competition this season certainly isn’t the ideal preparation.

Today’s event was just his sixth of the season but if he recovers from it he can challenge for a good result on Wednesday, if not Friday at ZLM.

The other Irishmen, Thomas Fallon and Cormac Clarke, were non-finishers.