Luke Smith won a hotly-contested kermesse in Belgium last night, proving he has what it takes to compete at this level. He will travel to Georgia at the end of the month for the European Youth Olympics Festival in a five-strong Irish team (Photo: Lucas Janssen Sportography)
Irish youth rider Luke Smith delivered a fantastic performance in Belgium last night, suggesting he will be a man to watch at the upcoming European Youth Olympics Festival in Georgia, from July 26th to 30th.
The 16 year-old Moynalty-Skyway man won a prestigious race in cycling’s heartland of west Flanders while fellow Irishman Harvey Barnes (East Tyrone) galloped in to take third.
A strong field of 64 riders signed on for the event, which is being used by the Irish team as preparation for the aforementioned Youth Olympics.
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Smith showed his class by going on the offensive early and often; stringing out the field on a demanding course.
And when he got away late in the race with one other rider they were not seen again.
However, Smith was clearly not keen to take anyone to the line with him and he dropped his breakaway partner to cross the line solo for victory.
It follows a third-place finish last Sunday in the Netherlands.
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Barnes rounded out the podium with a fine third-place; the East Tyrone man proving his class by winning the bunch sprint.
PJ Doogan was the other Irishman in action and he just missed out on the top 10, crossing the line in 13th for another really strong performance at this level.
Though Doogan will not be going to the Youth Olympics, his performance has kept up the pressure on those who were selected recently, namely Smith, Ronan Tuomey (Cork Giant) and Barnes.
Conor Gallagher (Castlebar CC) had originally been named on the team but a painful knee injury has ruled him out.
The team was drawn up on the back of results picked up in four selection races earlier in the season.
But as team manager and underage coach Martin O’Loughlin pointed out, the door is always open for new names to come in to the Talent Team and squeeze out the incumbents.
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