Ronan O'Connor, the 20-year-old Irishman riding for Continental team Global 6 United, has been on the attack at the International Tour of Hellas and also climbed very solidly today on what was a big day of action in the five-stage race.
O'Connor made the winning breakaway on yesterday's stage 2 - some 170km from Katerini to Karditsa - after attacking in the opening 5km as the stage tackled a 20.1km cat 1 climb from the start line.
That aggression paid off for the Irish rider as he emerged out front in a six-rider group that would prove the main breakaway of the day. And when that group trimmed down to four as the stage progressed, O'Connor was still in there.
However, with about 35km to go, O'Connor go caught out - and detached from the others as the road split into two segregated lanes. That resulted in a gap opening between the Irish rider and other three breakaway men - Felix Ritzinger (Team Felt Felbermayr), Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski).
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O'Connor was then scooped up by the bunch as the three men he was with held on out front, by just 25 seconds, for a three-up sprint to decided the stage victory, taking by Ritzinger from Zoccarato and Czabok.
Ireland's O'Connor eventually finished 11th, some 42 seconds of the back of the bunch. However, on today's stage 3 he bounced back from disappointment as he climbed very well on the last ascent to the finish line.
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Today's 158km stage from Karditsa to Karpenissi concluded atop the final climb of Velouchi, an 11.8km HC mountain with an average gradient of 8.7 per cent.
The stage was won by former World Tour rider Riccardo Zoidl, who claimed the victory by 34 seconds from his Team Felt Felbermayr team mate Hermann Pernsteiner, who rode for World Tour team Bahrain-Victorious last year.
Valerio Conti (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini), a former UAE Team Emirates rider and maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia, was 3rd today at 1:22. O'Connor finished 18th today - of a 115-rider field - at 5:57.
On the opening day of action on Wednesday, O'Connor was 86th on the 6km stage 1a TT in Thessaloniki, finishing 49 seconds down on stage winner Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
On stage 1b, a 92km road stage into Paralia Katerinis, O'Connor finished 91st, in the bunch, on the same time as winner Jakub Mareczko (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini).
With two stages remaining, former Irish junior road race champion O'Connor is 22nd overall, some 7:11 down on race leader, and today's stage winner, Zoidl, a former Trek-Segafredo rider.
