Patrick Casey, the Irish junior riding for German team GRENKE-Auto Eder, fought all the way to the line yesterday at the UCI Junior Nations Cup race in Italy in a bid to save his race leader’s jersey on the last day of action.
The 18-year-old, who take the leader’s jersey after after breakaway ride on stage 2, was left stranded when he had just one team mate, Anatol Friedl, left in the race as he raced against national teams from all over world.
Despite those odds, he put up an amazing fight, announcing himself properly on the international stage, and ended the race with a carer-best result.
At the end of the five-stage race he had to be content with 3rd place in the final general classification at Eroica Juniores-Nations’ Cup, missing out on overall victory by just six seconds.
Yesterday’s 102.7km final stage from Siena to Chiusdino saw an early breakaway go clear in the valley after the first climb. And in that breakaway were Héctor Álvarez (Spain) and Ruud Junior Nagengast (Netherlands) who had started the stage just 43 and 46 seconds down on Casey overall.
When the breakaway went clear, the major teams looked at each other and though Casey’s sole team mate left in the race did his best to muster a chase, he was limited in what he could do on his own. While the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale U19 team were 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall, they did not assist in the chase.
That meant the breakaway was able to build a substantial lead and though it closed somewhat on the final climb to the finish line, Álvarez and Nagengast just about gained enough time to leapfrog Casey in 1st and 2nd overall, pushing the Irish rider to 3rd.
The stage was won by Felix Ørn-Kristoff of Norway, his second stage win of the race, by three seconds from Andrea Bessega (Italy) and Héctor Álvarez (Spain), with Ruud Junior Nagengast (Netherlands) 4th at eight seconds.
Casey finished in 31st place, at the back of what remained of the peloton – just over 30 riders – and was 55 seconds down on the winner. Fellow Irish junior Killian O’Brien (International Veleka Team) was also n that group and was 28th on the stage, a very good performance by hime.
The time gained by Casey’s rivals who slipped into the breakaway meant Álvarez of Spain took overall victory from breakaway companion, Nagengast of the Netherlands, with just two seconds separating them after the five stages of racing.
Casey was then in 3rd place overall, just six downs down on overall winner Álvarez. However, the Irish rider put up a fantastic fight, despite having only one team mate left in the race, and comes out of this race very much with his reputation enhanced.
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