Philip Deignan sits nicely tucked in third wheel during the opening stage of the Volta A la Communicat Valenciana in Spain today. The Donegal man helped his team to finish second on the 37.9-kilometre test against the clock.
By Brian Canty
It was one of the busiest days for Irish professional cycling for quite a while today, Wednesday, with no less than eight riders in action across four UCI-ranked races in three different continents.
In his first competitive race of the year, Irish national road and time-trial champion Nicolas Roche enjoyed a super day as BMC Racing Team stormed to victory on day one of the Volta A la Communicat Valenciana (2.1) in Spain.
Roche’s team clocked a blistering time of 43:17 for the 37.9-kilometre course that including plenty ups and downs and he crossed the line along with four teammates.
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Behind them was Team Sky at 21 seconds where Philip Deignan put in a great shift and a further 28 seconds behind the men in black was Dan Martin’s Quick-Step Floors squad.
Further down the field in ninth were the Cannondale-Drapac team which featured Ryan Mullen, though they had a less-than-ideal start with a time almost two minutes slower than the winners.
Dan Martin warming up prior to today's opening stage. He and his team posted a fine time which was good enough for third and has them right in contention going into stage two.
Tomorrow sees the riders tackle a 180-kilometre stage which features five category three climbs.
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In the Dubai Tour (2.HC) Stephen Clancy (Novo-Nordisk) and Matt Brammeier (Aqua Blue Sport) were both in action with the latter helping teammate Adam Blythe to a top 10 on stage two.
Brammeier was a handful of seconds behind the British champion who was no match for stage winner Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).
Clancy crossed the line in 92nd in the same time as the bunch and there was no change at the head of the General Classification with Kittel extending his lead to eight seconds over Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-JumboNL).
Blythe is best of the Irish-registered Aqua Blue Sport team in 15th at 20 seconds.
Aqua Blue Sport rider, including Matt Brammeier second right, signing on for today's second stage.
Meanwhile, at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia Leigh Howard posted a brilliant time in the 2.1-kilometre prologue, clocking 2:34.
That was good enough for fifth in a race won by Danny Van Poppel of Team Sky.
The only other Irishman in action was Conor Dunne and he was 11 seconds down on the Dutchman in 69th.
The race continues tomorrow with a flat run to Falls Creek and concludes on Sunday after three more road stages.
Elsewhere in the five-day Etoile de Bességes in France, Matt Teggart gave a good account of himself and finished 75th in the same time as stage winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ).
Jonas Bokeloh was their highest-placed finisher on the day as he came across the line in 18th.
