Matt Teggart has put in a top performance for Ireland at the Kreiz Breizh Elites (UCI 2.2) race in France but his hopes of moving up overall or taking a stage result were wiped out by a late crash (Photo with thanks to Be-Celt.com)
Matt Teggart has finished a strong 14th overall in the Kreiz Breizh Elites (UCI 2.2) race in France, though a crash at the end of today’s final stage took him out of contention for a higher position.
Riding on the Irish team, he was well positioned in the top 10 coming into the finish in Rostrenen when a crash took down a number of riders including the yellow jersey and Teggart.
With 15 riders in contention for the overall crown all tied on time, Teggart knew he had a chance of securing a major result after a great ride on the opening stage.
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But it wasn’t to be and he had to settle for where he started the stage, a position team manager David McCann was more than happy with.
Best place of the Irish on the final stage was Mark Downey in 14th place, with Mark Dowling 20th; both in a 25-man group sprinting for 2nd place eight seconds behind solo victor Yoann Paillot from France.
“The boys rode very, very well; Matt, Mark Downey and Mark Dowling were all in the top 10 going into the final hill on the final circuit,” he said of today’s last stage.
“There was a good chance for him to move up overall, he had good legs for a good stage position but a crash right in front of them brought both the yellow jersey and Matt down.
“They were inside the final three kilometres so they get the same time (as the group they were in).”
Afterwards, McCann said Teggart was “a bit frustrated” as he believed he had the legs to move into the top 10 on overall.
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Mark Dowling and Matt Teggart in the green of Ireland in France riding against top European opposition (Photo: Maelys Relet)
“They rode together, they rode a good team race; the boys were complimenting Daire (O’Mahony) who was riding very strongly as well. They all pulled their weight and it was great to see.”
Indeed, it was an eventful afternoon for the men in green on an extremely hilly circuit.
“The team all contributed to help Matty out, it could have went a little differently in the finish and we’d have had a chance to move up but top 15 in a race of this level is no shame at all,” continued McCann.
He said with some of the riders having ridden the race last year, they felt they had come up a level in the intervening 12 months and were pleased in that regard.
“It’s great to have a bit of regularity in these road events so they can go one year, learn and come back another year and compete,” said McCann.
Conor Hennebry was tailed off on the final circuits and would abandon, though that was due in part to a recent crash in Belgium.
Sean McKenna dropped off the back of the bunch on the last lap after working for the team throughout the stage, finishing 1:31 down. O’Mahoney stopped with Teggart when he crashed, with those two in the reduced peloton with Downey and Dowling when the late spill occurred.
“It was good to see that sort of team spirit and putting others ahead of themselves so it’s very positive,” said McCann.
“I’m pretty happy with how they all rode and I think they’ve all taken something from it and looking forward to the next event.”
The race was won overall by Jeroen Meijers of the Rabobank Development Team; Teggart 14th on the same time as the Dutch victor.
O'Mahoney was 29th and McKenna was 30th; some 3:24 and 4:11 down on the winner. Downey, fresh from a silver medal at the U23 European Track Championships last month, finish 37th overall, 6:43 down. Dowling was 49th, some 17:12 down.
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