Juniour Tour of Ireland - Full Report
2 Aug 2015
The Junior Tour of Ireland took place from 14-19th July in Ennis County Clare. Carn Wheelers racer Marc Heaney was lining up for his first Junior Tour and also his first outing as a National Team rider.
105 riders started the short but tricky individual TT, Marc posting a time of 8m.41s, just 43s off the winning time which placed him 26th overall on the GC.
Wednesday saw the first of the road stages, which passed over the Burren and had the Cat1 climb of Castle Hill 40k from the finish of the 101km stage. Marc quickly made his way into a break after the first small climb which soon opened a 2min gap on the chasing peloton, however his goal of an early stage win was short lived when Marc was instructed to just sit in the break and wait until it was caught by the chasing peloton, this was apparently due to the number of GC contenders in the break and Marc also being out numbered as he was the only Ireland rider with the other teams having two riders each in the break. It all came together for a bunch sprint with Marc taking 10th on the stage moving to 24th in the GC.
Thursday morning the riders awake to heavy rain which was to remain persistent all day, this reaked havoc in the peloton with numerous riders hitting the deck on the 100kM stage, after one Cat3 & two Cat2 climbs the peloton had a fast 40k run to the slight uphill finish, another stage for the sprinters. Marc was well positioned coming to the finish on the wet roads earning himself a 5th place on the stage and another move up the GC to 21st, and the National team moved to 2nd in the team classification 33sec behind the favourites Hot Tubes from America.
Friday morning dawned with the cloudy sky's, no rain but the Atlantic winds had whipped up intending to make conditions difficult for all the riders. The 115km stage was the longest of the week and the one that many hoped would rip up the race..…it didn't disappoint!! The first of the day's three Cat 1 climbs saw a break of nine riders get away and have a 1.5 minute gap at the first summit, among this break were two Ireland riders, Marc & Darragh O'Mahoney, at the Top of the second Cat 1 climb, The Corkscrew the two Ireland men crested the summit 1st & 3rd and then drove the race onto the final 4km long Cat 1 climb over the famous Cliffs of Moher. At this point the peloton had closed the break to 45s, once over the top there was a 40km fast run around the Atlantic coastline to the finish in Ballyvaghan. Darragh crossed the line to take the stage after making a break on the decent of the last climb, Marc took the gallop of the bunch beating the French winner of the first two stages Nathan Pirnot To take 14th on the stage. Ireland team manager David McCann's plan had very nearly been executed to perfection, the team moved into 1st in the team classification dropping the American Hot Tubes team to 4th, however the French Bisontine team rider Joublot Marin Ferre moved to 1st in the individual GC with ireland 2nd & 3rd.
Saturday saw another hilly stage with one Cat2 & two Cat1 climbs, the last climb was the sting in the tail starting at 100km and going right to the summit finish at 101km. . Ireland had to take the fight to the French rather than the Americans. From the flag dropped Marc kept attacking the bunch with his team mates, eventually Jake Gray got away and opened a 1m 30s on the chasing bunch he stayed away for 40km with Marc and the Ireland team countering any attacks and protecting their GC positions. Jake was caught on the climb to the finish with two Hot Tubes riders taking one & two on the stage, Jake eventually finished 6th with Marc 11th. Ireland retained their team lead and Marc making a huge jump up the GC from 21st up to 14th.
Sunday mornings last stage was seven laps of an 11km lumpy circuit which would certainly test the tired legs of the remaining 92 starters. A small break established itself from the drop of the flag, although the riders involved were down on the GC they had aspirations of a stage win. Not too worried, the GC contenders let them hang about 45s off the front of the peloton until lap 5 when the pace upped rapidly with the break being caught within 3km of the lap start, the breakaway riders and others were soon going backwards such was the pace of the main peloton. Towards the finish of the race 56 riders thundered towards the line in a bunch sprint with Marc crossing the line in 22nd place on the same time as the winner.
Overall it was a successful tour for Marc in his first outing With the National Team and riding amongst the calibre of juniors at this event, the two American Teams had five National champions with them in Ireland. Marc leaves on Monday 27th for a month to travel to Belgium to experience life and racing in Europe as a Belgian Project graduate rider. A special thank you to Dany Blondeel of the Belgian Project and Martine Verfaillie for making this all possible.
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