It was a very promising day for Irish cycling, with strong results from several of its young riders pointing to a good future ahead.
In Italy, Philip Deignan finished fifth on the fourteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia, going away early on in a large breakaway and then riding strongly on the two kilometre finishing climb. The Letterkenny rider hit the line in Bologna 27 seconds behind his Cervélo team-mate Simon Gerrans, netting that fifth place.
Rubens Bertaglioti (Diquigiovanni) was second, 12 seconds behind Gerrans, while Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre - N.G.C.) was 18 seconds back.
Deignan had slipped away with thirteen others after only twelve of the day’s 172 kilometres had elapsed. Also there were Gerrans (Cervélo Test Team), Guillame Bonnafond (Ag2r), Giampaolo Cheula, Christopher Froome (both Barloworld), Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d'Epargne), Giovanni Visconti and Andriy Grivko (both ISD), Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Francesco Reda (Quick Step), Rubens Bertaglioti (Diquigiovanni), Evgeny Petrov (Katusha), Martin Müller (Milram) and Eduard Vorganov (Xacobeo).
The stage featured five climbs, namely the Passo della Collina, Valico di Mediano, Valico di Tole, Mongardino and the steep, two kilometre finishing ramp up San Luca. Following a testing jump by Deignan on the penultimate climb, Gerrans attacked at the bottom of the final slope and pulled away to win. Deignan came in within 30 seconds, showing he is returning to form after a crash earlier in this Italian Tour.
In Spain, both Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and his cousin Daniel Martin performed well on today’s sixth stage of the Tour of Catalunya. Roche was ninth in the bunch gallop in Barcelona, crossing the line in the same time as a victorious Thor Hushovd (Cervélo Test Team) .
Martin finished safely in the main bunch, placing 38th, and thus retained his excellent second place overall. He remains just 15 seconds behind race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) heading into tomorrow’s final leg, a 110.8 kilometre race from Centre d'Alt Rendiment, Sant Cugat to the Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló.
Martin has said that he will try to take the overall victory, but the mainly flat nature of the course will make this ambition a difficult one to achieve. A bunch sprint is the most likely outcome.
Roche is 17th overall in the race, three minutes and 36 seconds back.
In Ireland, eighteen year old first year senior Sam Bennett improved on the four top ten placings he already took in this year’s FBD Insurance Rás when he galloped to success on stage seven. Leading out the gallop in Clara, he beat Joachim Tolles (Germany Kuota Indeland), quadruple Tour de France stage winner Jann Kirsipuu (Norway Giant Veoila), former Belgian champion Niko Eeckhout (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and 99 others in the big bunch finish.
Apart from being the second consecutive Irish stage win after Paul Healion’s sprint success yesterday, the significance of the result is Bennett’s youth and lack of experience. He is an eighteen year old first year senior who is riding his debut FBD Rás against some strong international teams; beating those suggests that he has a bright future ahead.
Overall, the three sets of results show that things are looking up for Irish cycling. Philip Deignan, Daniel Martin and Nicolas Roche are riding strongly in the very top races in the sport, and a big win is surely only a matter of time for each of those.
Meanwhile, Bennett’s performances plus some encouraging rides by young Irish riders in the FBD Insurance Rás show that there could be a new wave of home competitors coming through. If they maintain their momentum, they too might be with the top pro teams in the next few years.
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Giro d'Italia (Grand Tour), Italy, May 9-31, 2009
Stage 14 - Saturday, May 23: Campi Bisenzio - Bologna (San Luca):
1, Simon Gerrans (Cervelo Test Team) 172 kilometres in 4 hours 16 mins 48 secs
2, Rubens Bertaglioti (Diquigiovanni) at 12 secs
3, Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre - N.G.C.) at 18 secs
4, Evgeny Petrov (Team Katusha) at 24 secs
5, Philip Deignan (Cervelo Test Team) at 27 secs
6, Christopher Froome (Barloworld) at 36 secs
General classification after stage 14:
1, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) 58 hours 33 mins 53 secs
2, Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini) at 34 secs
3, Levi Leipheimer (Astana) at 43 secs
4, Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) at 2 mins
5, Carlos Sastre (Cervelo Test Team) at 2 mins 52 secs
6, Michael Rogers (Team Columbia - Highroad) at 3 mins 3 secs
(Note: We’ll confirm Deignan’s overall position when it has been released.)
Volta a Catalunya (ProTour) , Spain, May 18-24:
Stage 6 - May 23: Torredembarra – Barcelona:
1, Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) 150.5 kilometres in 3 hours 26 mins 43 secs (43.683 km/h)
2, Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas)
3, Greg Henderson (Team Columbia - Highroad)
4, Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank)
5, Leonardo Duque (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
6, Marco Bandiera (Lampre - N.G.C.) all same time
Irish:
9, Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale)
38, Daniel Martin (Garmin - Slipstream)
Teams:
1, Cervelo Test Team, 10 hours 20 mins 9 secs
2, Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
3, Fuji-Servetto, both same time
Other:
4, AG2R La Mondiale
10, Garmin – Slipstream, each same time
General classification after stage 6
1, Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) 21 hours 45 mins 19 secs
2, Daniel Martin (Garmin - Slipstream) at 15 secs
3, Haimar Zubeldia (Astana) at 22 secs
4, Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel - Euskadi) at 34 secs
5, José Angel Gomez Marchante (Cervelo Test Team) at 38 secs
6, Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) at 45 secs
Other Irish:
17, Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) at 3 mins 36 secs
Mountains classification:
1, Julian Sanchez (Contentpolis-AMPO) 46 pts
2, Xavier Tondo (Andalucia-Cajasur) 46
3, José Luis Arrieta (AG2R La Mondiale) 42
Other:
6, Daniel Martin (Garmin - Slipstream) 32
Sprint classification:
1, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) 15 pts
2, Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-Cajasur) 6
3, Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 3
Teams classification
1, Astana, 65 hours 20 mins 27 secs
2, Euskaltel – Euskadi, at 2 mins 22 secs
3, AG2R La Mondiale, at 6 mins 22 secs
Other:
9, Cervelo Test Team, at 17 mins 37 secs
FBD Insurance Rás (2.2), stage seven, Castelebar – Clara:
1, Sam Bennett (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) 149.6 kilometres in 3 hours 21 mins 43 secs
2, Joachim Tolles (Germany Kuota-Indeland)
3, Jaan Kirsipuu (Norway Giant-Veolia)
4, Niko Eeckhout (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
5, Russ Downing (Britain Candi TV Marshalls)
6, Nicholas Walker (Australia Cinelli-Down Under)
7, Paul Healion (Ireland National Team)
8, Ian Wilkinson (Britain Halfords Bike Hut)
9. Barry Monaghan (AN DÚN Newry Whs. CC)
10, Luke Roberts (Germany Kuota-Indeland) all same time
Yellow: Simon Richardson (Britain Rapha Condor)
(more results soon)