Irish junior and elite riders have been putting in some strong performances in the European peloton though Waterford junior David Gaffney saw his chances of a second weekend of being on the podium derailed by bad luck in a UCI-ranked race in Spain.
Gaffney (Team 31 Specialized), Hugh Óg Mulhearne (ASVillemur U19), Darragh Byrne (ASVillemur U19), Dean Harvey (Martigues SC-Payden & Rygel), Jamie Meehan (AVC Aix-en-Provence Dole) and Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco) have all been in action.
Meehan and Harvey are among the best of the Irish U23 riders at present and will both be chasing national team selection this year. They lined out at the weekend in the 124km Grand Prix d'Ouverture Pierre Pinel one-day race in Montastruc-la-Conseillère, Haute-Garonne, in south western France; both making their mark.
The event came down to a sprint from a reduced peloton with Harvey, who has moved on from Trinity Racing since last season, taking 6th. Meehan, the former Irish U23 road race champion, was just behind in 9th. Both finished on same time was winner Luca De Vincenzi (OCF Team Legend Wheels).
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For juniors Mulhearne and Byrne, there were two races on the cards at the weekend in France; the Classic Coeur de Brenne U19 on Saturday following by Trophée de la Ville de Châtellerault on Sunday.
Saturday's 135km race saw the riders compete in very windy weather, with Mulhearne finishing in 17th, in a 17-man group after the crosswinds saw echelons form and the near 200-rider field split to pieces.
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Mulhearne's group finished just under one minute behind winner and runner-up Achille Waterlot (Linas-Montlhéry Cycling Team) and Hugo Boucher (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale U19 Team). Byrne was 106th in a group at 6:42.
Sunday's race also split to pieces in tough conditions, with the two Irish riders doing well to finish in what remained of the bunch, some 60 riders, from a start list of 189. They were 1:44 down on solo winner Alban Picard (Groupama-FDJ Conti Juniors). Mulhearne was 15th and Byrne 34th.
Gaffney was in action in Gran Premi Les Franqueses KH7, a 138km UCI 1.1-ranked rank race in Spain on Sunday after a very strong opening weekend to the season a week earlier.
He finished in 44th, in a group almost six minutes down on winner Gustave Blanc (JEGG-SKIL-DJR U19), who claimed that victory by over two minutes on the nearest chasers. Gaffney was with the first chase group on the road when he suffered a puncture as the race hit one of the major climbs.
Though he got serviced, it was with a wheel with the wrong rotor size, resulting in the teenager crashing into a ditch later in the race, though thankfully there were no serious injuries to report.
Jeffers, who has recently declared for Ireland and is expected to ride both track and road for the national team, was in action in Trofeo Oro in Euro (UCI 1.1) in Italy on Sunday, where she was among a group of non-finishers.
