Regular visitors to the Junior Tour of Ireland and no stranger to stage wins or the yellow jersey, the American Hot Tubes team has taken control on the race today, with the stage victory and the yellow jersey both going to Andrew August.
The rising star was selected for the junior race at the World Cyclocross Championships in the US in January, and just weeks after he turned 16 years old he placed 5th in the world title race.
That horsepower was very much on show today on the fourth stage of the Eurocycles Eurobabies Junior Tour as the riders raced 87.8km from Ennis to Barefield. However, August was matched by British rider Joe Brookes (Halesowen Academy Mapei) when it mattered most.
Adam Gilsenan (Team Ireland) took the first KOH of the day at Scariff after the main field had set a scorching pace of 60km per hour in the first 16km of racing.
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However, August took the next four climbs - after 38km, 41km, 47km and 63km. And it was on the penultimate climb that the damage was done, with August and Brookes proving strongest and going over the top 1st and 2nd.
Behind them, the field split, with yellow jersey Lucas Jowett (Backstedt Bike Performance) finding himself on the back foot. As the bunch split in two while the two leaders raced forward, Jowett found himself one minute down on the first section of the peloton, with the two leaders almost 40 seconds further up the road.
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And while Jowett's group managed to close the gap to the front split, the two leaders were gone for the remainder of the day; their gap as much as 1:40 with 10km remaining to the finish.
During that final 10km, and with Jowett desperately trying to drum up a chase to defend his race lead, the leaders' advantage was cut back. However, they still had 47 seconds on the line, where August sprinted in ahead of Brookes for stage victory.
Wout Joore (Tempo Hoppenbrouwers) won the sprint for 3rd place from the near 60-rider peloton. Darren Parham (Hot Tubes) was 4th with Will Cucco (Team California) 5th and Tom Pattinson (Halesowen Academy Mapei) 6th.
Shane McKay of Orwell Wheelers, who has grown up in France and is the son of former Irish elite international Leslie McKay, was best of the Irish in 7th while Travis Harkness (Cycling Ulster) placed 10th.
With two days of racing remaining, August now holds the yellow jersey by 27 seconds from Brookes while Jowett has dropped from first to 3rd; though at 37 seconds off yellow he is still in contention. McKay is best of the Irish overall, in 12th at 1:20 followed by Team Ireland's Gilsenan in 13th on the same time.
August also leads the young rider classification while yesterday's stage winner Ben Asley (Backstedt Bike Performance) leads the points classification. August leads the climbers' classification, though that jersey will be worn tomorrow by Conal Scully (Team Ireland), who is 2nd in the classification.
Stage 4 | Top 20
- AUGUST AJ Hot Tubes Cycling 02:01:13
- BROOKES Joseph Halesowen Cycling Academy + 00
- JOORE Wout Team Hoppenbrouwers + 47
- PARHAM Darren Hot Tubes Cycling + 47
- CUCCO William Team California + 47
- PATTINSON Tomos Halesowen Cycling Academy + 47
- MCKAY Shane Pinergy Orwell + 47
- ASKEY Ben Bäckstedt Bike Performance JRT + 47
- MARAIS Jacques Team Foremost + 47
- HARKNESS Travis Ulster + 47
- LUDMAN Joshua BRE + 47
- CHE Alejandro Velosport + 47
- LESLIE Samuel Lee Valley Youth CC + 47
- BUCK-JONES Huw Bäckstedt Bike Performance JRT + 47
- LARSON Evan Team California + 47
- LUONGO Brendan Velosport + 47
- MARSHALL Christopher Pinergy Orwell + 47
- GILSENAN Adam Ireland + 47
- ROWELL Ethan Team Foremost + 47
- STEVENS Connor Lee Valley Youth CC + 47
