Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain

Jamie Meehan started the final climb in the select group at Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes and was among the best on it after a brutal day in the Alps (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)

Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) has put together another strong climbing display in one of the hilliest one-day races of the season, Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes (1.1).

The 22-year-old Donegal man was in the select group when it hit the base of the final climb to the line atop 14.4km Valberg, a cat 1 in the southern Alps.

By that point, the riders had raced almost 139km of the 152km route, with 4,500m of elevation gain. It included the cat 1 Col Saint Martin-La Colmiane (7.5km at 7 per cent) and the HC Col de la Couillole (15.8km at 7.3 per cent).

Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) attacked from the front group Meehan was in with almost 12km to go to the finish, all of it climbing.

And though that seemed like a long way out to make a move for glory on the finish summit climb, he appeared on track to take the win as the race neared a finish.

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However, back in the chasing group Colombian Ivan Sosa, the former Ineos Grenadiers rider now with Equipo Kern Pharma, went to the front and began closing the gap to the solo leader.

When Sosa squeezed on the pedals, only two riders in the group could follow, his own team mate, Ibon Ruiz, and Italian veteran, Domenico Pozzovivo (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali), who has just returned after a year of retirement.

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Meehan was just behind, doing his best to hold his shape as the climb continued and as the Equipo Kern Pharma duo caught and passed attacker Bisiaux.

Ruiz sprinted in for the win, his first as a pro, just ahead of team mate Sosa, with Bisiaux taking 3rd place at 11 seconds.

Pozzovivo was 4th, at 14 seconds, followed by Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) and Fausto Masnada (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), at 48 and 58 second respectively.

Ireland's Meehan was 9th, at 1:28; a very strong performance on terrain suited to the pure climbers.

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