O'Brien digs deep but Irish challenge slips on Tignes 2100 at Tour de l'Avenir

Liam O'Brien was among the last men standing until about 10km to go on the 26km Tignes 2100 summit finish climb, with Jamie Meehan very unlucky today with a crash (Photo: Quentin Joly)

Liam O'Brien of Team Ireland put up a strong fight in the general classification at Tour de l'Avenir, though the road to Tignes 2100 proved a long and brutal one for the U23 Irish riders as the field blew to pieces in the Alps.

The other key climber in the Irish team, World Tour rider Jamie Meehan, was on the attack yesterday but suffered a crash today, which came back to bit him later on the 121km queen stage from Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc to Tignes 2100.

O'Brien and Meehan have climbed with the very best U23s in Europe this season, including on the big mountains at altitude at Giro della Valle d'Aosta (2.2U) and Ronde de l'Isard (2.2U). However, today wasn't their day.

Meehan, now with a three-year contract with Cofidis after a breakaway season this year, crashed on the opening climb of the day today; the 13.8km Col des Saisies.

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Though he got back on his bike and to battled back on to the remains of the peloton, he never recovered his effort and did not play a part at the front of the race.

Mateo Ramírez of Ecuador attacks the general classification select group as it nears the top of the final climb (Photo: Quentin Joly)

O'Brien remained in the front group over the Col des Saisies, down the descent and then up and over the 20.3km HC Cormet de Roselend. And when the front group hit he base of the final climb, the 26.2km Tignes 2100, he remained in the group as it got smaller and smaller.

However, as the riders reached the upper slopes, with the group down to about 20 men, the attacks began. Paul Seixas (France) got the hostilities underway with just under 10km to go and eventual stage winner Jarno Widar (Belgium) soon went after him.

Though it appear those two - arguably the biggest names in the race - may ride away, they looked at each other a little. And, as a result of their hesitation, a chase group of five got across to them.

That group was comprised of last year's junior road race world champion Lorenzo Finn (Italy), Juan Rodriguez (Colombia), Giro Next Gen winner Jakob Omrzel (Slovenia), Mateo Ramirez Torres (Ecuador) and Jorgen Nordhagen (Norway).

Behind them, there was a second group - including race leader Maxime Decomble (France) - and then a third, which contained O'Brien. As the climb progressed to the finish, the gaps between those groups continued to grow.

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And despite some attacks up front, the group largely stayed together until the final kilometre, where Widar put in a strong attack that Seixas tried to answer but was unable to.

Widar claimed victory by five seconds from Seixas and Nordhagen, with O'Brien finished 16th at 1:36. Ireland's Adam Rafferty was 45th at 17:57, Seth Dunwoody 60th at 23:15, Ronan O'Connor 81st at 29:51 and Meehan 90th in the same time as O'Connor.

O'Brien moves up four places overall, to 20th at 2:42, with France's Decomble retaining yellow despite finishing in 12th at 1:16. He was in the stage 1 breakaway than gained 2:27 but with a hilly split stage to concluded tomorrow, his lead now over 2nd place Seixas (France) is down to 51 seconds.

Italian Finn 3rd at 54 seconds while Nordhagen is 4th at 59 seconds. Widar is 5th at 1:03 and will really want to win this race. He imploded last year, amid serious pressure on his shoulders, and is likely to go on the attack on tomorrow morning's stage if he has the legs.

Tomorrow there is a 41.6km road race stage in the morning, comprised almost exclusively of climbing. That is followed in the afternoon by stage 6b, a 10.3km mountain TT to La Rosière. It averages 6.6 per cent, though the opening 5.5km is between 9 and 10 per cent.

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