Jake Gray was Ireland’s top finisher in the Junior Men’s Road Race at the UCI 2016 Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar yesterday, finishing 107th on a day where crashes put an end to the hopes of Ireland’s Ronan Tuomey and Xeno Young.
Gray rode a strong race, racing in the main peloton, with the winning medals coming from a breakaway group. The gold medal went to Jakob Egholm from Denmark, with Niklas Markl of Germany winning silver and Switzerland’s Reto Muller taking bronze.
The junior men were competing over 135.5km, or eight laps of a flat and fast circuit in the Middle Eastern city. At the mid-section of the race Xeno Young attacked the bunch, but once he was brought back he got caught up in a crash in the bunch.
Junior Team Manager Martin O’Loughlin described an unfortunate scenario for the young Irish cyclists: “Xeno had a pop off the front and just as he drifted to the back after getting caught a guy in front of him came down, Ronan [Tuomey] was back there too, and they both came down. I think the luck of the Irish deserted us today. The heat probably contributed to a lot of the crashes today, but it was the busiest day for the medical centre here.”
Once Tuomey and Young were out of the race Jake Gray was the sole Irish rider on the course. The second year junior was well positioned in the main group coming into the final kilometre, but once again fell victim to a crash in the bunch.
O’Loughlin was disappointed for Gray saying: “Jake was just getting in for the gallop when he crashed. ‘Twas disappointing for him, he’s had a great junior and youth career, but it was a pity for him ending his junior career on the deck. That’s bike racing, though, it’s the biggest stage in the world and to end up on the floor isn’t part of the plan. Next year he will ride for VC Toucy, the team that Mark Downey was on this year, so he has a big career ahead.”
With Young and Tuomey still first year juniors, both are already back in school, making preparations for the World Championships a little more complicated.
“Two of the three boys are still school boys, but their preparation was top notch with their coaches on what was always going to be a difficult Championships without acclimatisation camps,” said O’Loughlin.
“The guys themselves are very professional with their behaviour here, and they are getting great learning from the likes of Ryan [Mullen], Sam [Bennett] and Nico [Nicolas Roche]. I think Kurt [Bogaerts – Team Manager] summed it up well the last day when he said that the juniors are coming through now like the U23s were a few years ago, they are coming in with the skills and are not overawed by the level, they adjust well and seamlessly into the team.”
“That’s all we can hope for. It is all part of a bigger picture and hopefully these lads will learn from it this today. You have to enjoy the good days and learn from the bad days, and this is all part of the pathway. Now we have to drive for qualification for next year, and get more people to the World Championships in Bergen, that’s the big aim for next year.”
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