Ireland’s Jack Wilson gets in the zone just before his effort at Monday's start of the Tour de Normandie (Photo: AnPostChainreaction.com)
Conor Dunne appears to be maintaining the form that saw him put in a very strong Tour de Taiwan earlier this month.
The JLT-Condor rider was best of the four Irishman in the Tour de Normandie during Monday’s short sharp prologue time trial.
At just 6.1km, the test in Carentan was the kind of effort that very few riders look forward to.
And it was clear to see that Felix McKenna (Madison-Genesis) and Jack Wilson (An Post-Chainreaction) did not go full throttle around the course.
They finished in 126th and 138th; some 1:02 and 1:14 off the time of stage winner Lucas Liss of the German national time who clocked 8mins 7secs.
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However, Wilson’s team mate Connor McConvey and JLT-Condor’s Dunne applied themselves with more focus.
Dunne ended the day 29th and relinquished just 21 seconds while McConvey was a decent 47th of the 150-rider field, losing 27 seconds to the victor.
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The race continues until next Sunday with Tuesday’s first road stage taking the riders 201km from Mondeville to Forges-les-Eaux.
With four categorised climbs – after 17km, 36km, 77km and 131km – there should be plenty of scope for breakaways to go clear.
However, as the last ascent comes 70km from the finish it is a stage that might suit the sprinters.
An Post-Chainreaction was forced to start the event with just five riders when its Australian rider Calvin Watson was stranded by industrial action at some French airports.
Mon, March 21st: Carentan 6.1km TT
1 Lucas Liss (Ger) Equipe National d`Allemagne 0:08:07
2 Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Cyclingteam Join`s - De Rijke 0:00:06
3 Jan Brockhoff (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
4 Daniel Westmattelmann (Ger) Team Kuota-Lotto 0:00:08
5 Reidar Bohlin Borgersen (Nor) Team Joker 0:00:10
6 Antoine Leplingard (Fra) Vendée U Pays de la Loire 0:00:12
7 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis
8 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Rabobank Development Team
9 Andreas Vangstad (Nor) Team Sparebanken Sør 0:00:13
10 Philip Lindau (Swe) Team Joker 0:00:14
11 Marco Mathis (Ger) Equipe National d`Allemagne
12 Cees Bol (Ned) Rabobank Development Team
13 Dylan Kowalski (Fra) V.C. Rouen 76
14 Wouter Mol (Ned) Cyclingteam Join`s - De Rijke
15 Stef Van Zummeren (Bel) Veranda`s Willems CT 0:00:15
16 Olivier Pardini (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Prot
17 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis
18 Alex Rasmussen (Den) Team Coloquick 0:00:16
19 James Callum Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal U23 0:00:17
20 Tim De Troyer (Bel) Veranda`s Willems CT
21 Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post - ChainReaction
22 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Prot 0:00:18
23 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Leopard Pro Cycling
24 Fabio Silvestre (Por) Leopard Pro Cycling
25 Jasper Bovenhuis (Ned) An Post - ChainReaction 0:00:19
26 Kevyn Ista (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Prot
27 Corentin Ermenault (Fra) C.C. Nogent Sur Oise 0:00:20
28 Christopher Hatz (Ger) Team Kuota-Lotto 0:00:21
29 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor
30 Cyril Patoux (Fra) V.C. Pays de Loudeac
47 Connor Mc Convey (Irl) An Post - ChainReaction 0:00:26
126 Felix English (Irl) Madison Genesis 0:01:02
138 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post - ChainReaction 0:01:14
