Sean McKenna, left, attacked early for Ireland before Michael O'Loughlin, right, got clear in the main breakaway of the U23 Tour of Flanders (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
David Montgomery may have finished best of the Irish in the U23 Tour of Flanders in Belgium on Saturday, but the whole team put in one of the best performances by a national line-up at this level.
While Montgomery took 18th place on the day and team mate Eddie Dunbar came home in 20th, it was the manner of the riding by the men in green that this outing will be remembered for from an Irish perspective.
Young Michael O’Loughlin, riding in his first year as an U23 athlete, made it into the day’s main escape and was perhaps the strongest in it.
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And before he pulled clear in that five-man move Sean McKenna was aggressive off the front.
Dunbar and Matt Teggart were also in the thick of the action, attacking in the final after the group of O’Loughlin was eventually mopped up.
Teggart was very unfortunate in crashing out of the breakaway but his ability to get off the front in the final of a race like this suggest huge progress on his part (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Teggart was left to wonder what might have been when he crashed after pulling clear in a four-man move as it contained the eventual winner.
And while the international field faced 166km in the saddle and no fewer than 13 short sharp bergs, most in the final third of the race, McKenna was very fast out of the traps.
He attacked shortly after the start and while his move was quickly snuffed out it was a sign of things to come from the Irish.
Clearly riding with instructions to place a man in any early escape in order that the others on the team would be given a free ride back in the bunch, just after McKenna was caught O’Loughlin flew the bunch.
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And this time a huge gap was established by the teenager and the four others he was with. They included Bohdan Musiienko (Ukraine), Yevgeniy Gidich (Kazakhstan), Alexander Cowan (Canada) and Filip Bengtsson (Sweden).
Montgomery ended the day as Ireland's top finisher, but it was an excellent performance by the whole team (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
They combined very well, with O’Loughlin looking the strongman, and built a gap that went to just over 4:30 with about 100km still to race.
However, clearly sensing the danger and not wanting the move to get too far ahead, the Great Britain team and the Spanish line-up went on the front to hold and then close the gap.
And when first Cowan and then Musiienko were dropped from the escape, it looked like a lost cause for the three that remained out front.
But before the reduced peloton would catch the escapees, the leading trio swelled to 11 riders; all of whom were mopped up with almost two complete laps of the finishing circuit, and some six bergs, remaining.
About 25km after the catch was made, Teggart found himself off the front after some great riding though he crashed out of the five-man breakaway he was in.
However, David Per (Slovenia) from that escape would eventually win the race, coming home at the head of a seven-man group on all the same time.
Jonathan Dibben, who won the points race world title on the track just last month, was 2nd for Great Britain.
Montgomery and Dunbar finished in a 12-man group just 19 seconds off the winner, while another 40 seconds would elapse before the next clutch of riders finished; a very good ride by both Irishmen.
Teggart was 31st, in a group 1:11 down, and would surely have been right in the fight but for his mishap.
McKenna and Angus Fyffe finished together, in 110th and 111th, in a group 9:21 down.
O’Loughlin was not listed as a finisher, abandoning on the last lap of the finishing circuit after his efforts earlier in the race.
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