Having been selected by the Bora-hansgrohe and Red Bull performance staff for their junior team because of his resistance to fatigue, Patrick Casey showed that quality today when he defended the race lead at Eroica Juniores-Nations Cup.
The 18-year-old, riding for Team GRENKE-Auto Eder, planted himself at the front of the peloton on the white gravel sectors through the Tuscan countryside; ready to cover any dangerous moves as small groups fired off the front repeatedly.
At the finish on the iconic Piazza del Campo, Casey was again to the fore; protecting his position at the top of the general classification and even gaining time on some of his rivals. Killian O'Brien (International Veleka Team) also showed his mettle with a strong performance.
Though the racing was fill-gas and the Belgians and Norwegians in particular were aggressive in the final, the small groups that went off the front were brought back, with the real splits happening out the rear.
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From a starting list of 145 riders this morning, more than 20 abandoned during the stage and the bunch numbered just 45 on the approach to the finish. The attacks and three undulating gravel sectors in the second half of the stage shredded the field.
However, as the numbers continued to reduce, both Casey and O'Brien were still among the strongest, holding their places in the reduced peloton.
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And though small gaps emerged in that group in the final dash for the line, Casey finished in 10th place, among a group of six all credited two seconds down on the riders who filled places 1st to 5th in the sprint for the chequered flag.
The sprint, for stage victory, was won by Norway's Felix Ørn-Kristoff from Héctor Álvarez (Spain), Senna Remijn (Netherlands), Jakob Omrzel (Slovenia) and Andrea Bessega (Italy); all on the same time.
After Casey placing 10th, just two seconds down, O'Brien was in another large group a further four seconds back; an impressive rider by a rider just cutting his teeth at this level and with no experience racing on gravel before today.
The stage result means Casey holds the race lead, by 31 seconds from Aubin Sparfel and Valentin Martinet, both Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale U19 Team.
The race continues tomorrow with 102km from Siena to Montevarchi, with the 14km cat 1 climb of the Montevarchi crested 15km from the finish, virtually all of which will be descending.
On Sunday the race concludes with the fifth stage, with is 103km from Siena to Chiusdino and concludes on a 5.6km cat 2 climbing, averaging just over four per cent gradient.
