That'll do nicely: Matt Teggart takes his first victory in France after being up the road all day in a series of moves (Photo: AC Bisontine)
Having taken a stage win and the points jersey in the Junior Tour of Ireland before narrowly missing out on selection for the World Championships last year, Matt Teggart is continuing to progress in France where he has taken his first win.
The former Banbridge CC and Nicolas Roche Performance Team man is currently riding on the French scene with AC Bisontine and bagged his maiden victory yesterday, Saturday.
The race was run from the town of Montigny les Vesoul in eastern France, close to where he is based in Besancon.
Teggart managed to outwit six breakaway companions in the sprint that decided the contest, suggesting his transition from the junior to U23 ranks is going very nicely after a couple of seasons badly impacted by injury at junior level.
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Winning stage 3 of the Junior Tour of Ireland last year into Ennistimon; he would go on to take the points classification overall (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
The Irish teenager was up the road early, attacking just a couple of kilometres after the start and getting clear initially in a group of seven.
However, while they worked well together the bunch never gave up and the gap never climbed much above 30 seconds.
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After around 50km in the saddle, the breakaway was joined by 10 others, injecting some badly needed pace into the escape.
However, with the lead group now very large, a number of riders began sitting in and the momentum was lost, with Teggart and the rest of the escapes reeled in with around 30km remaining.
Teggart, leading, riding the Newry Three Day in the colours of the Nicolas Roche Performance Team last year (Photo with thanks to Paul Hannigan)
Despite being up the road for almost the entire race, Teggart was soon among a select group of six to pull clear going up a climb.
They quickly built a lead of over two minutes and though the Irish rider was with three riders from one squad and two from another, he covered the many attacks inside the final 20km.
One of his own team mates then bridged across to the move with a few kilometres remaining.
And when the victory was decided in a seven man sprint to the line, Teggart emerged the comfortable winner.
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