There was a further good showing for riders from the Team Ireland set-up in France today, when Michael McNena and Stephen O’Sullivan were 3rd and 4th respectively in a circuit race near Lyon. Both riders were prominent in a breakaway group that went clear early in the GP Cycliste de Cruas, from which McNena won three prime sprints. Stephen O’Sullivan then tried to get clear with two others, and after being recaptured with a kilometre to go, had sufficient strength left to come home just behind McNena in fourth place. Their Team Ireland team-mate Tommy Evans was 13th.
‘I am a bit annoyed with myself because I think I should have won,’ said McNena afterwards. ‘I came around the last corner in third place but was a bit over-geared for the sprint – I think if I had got it right I would have been right up there.’ However, both McNena and O’Sullivan will take considerable encouragement from their performances, which show that they are now coming into good form after disruptions early this season.
Meanwhile, 23 La Creuse rider Aidan Duff is 70th overall after the penultimate stage of the Ruban Granitier Breton race, also in France. The Dundrum cyclist has been using the event as preparation for his Irish team slot in the forthcoming FBD Milk Rás, which starts on May 20th.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
