It was another good day for the Irish team at the Tour de l’Avenir (2.Ncup) as Michael O’Loughlin won the combativity award and Matthew Teggart regained his King of the Mountains jersey. Mark Downey meanwhile notched up another top ten stage finish, as he took 6th place.
O’Loughlin attacked inside the opening kilometres of the 139.1-kilometre sixth stage from Montrichard to Saint-Amand-Montrond along with Italian rider Francesco Romano, who will be riding as a stagiaire for UAE Team Emirates for the remainder of the season.
The pair quickly built up a decent lead, with O’Loughlin first over the top of the only categorised climb of the day. His team-mate Teggart took third enabling him to regain the KOM jersey.
O’Loughlin and Romano’s lead reached a maximum of 4 minutes and with 25 kilometres remaining, the pair still had an advantage of 2’45” and with 11 kilometres left, their lead was 1’45”.
It looked like it might be between O’Loughlin and Romano for the stage win. However, the pair were caught inside the final kilometre as Álvaro José Hodeg Chagui (Colombia) won the stage. Mark Downey finished 6th as O’Loughlin hung on for 7th.
Austrian rider Patrick Gamper maintained his overall lead. Tomorrow should see a significant shake-up on GC as the riders enter the high mountains on the seventh stage from Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to the summit finish of Hauteluce-Les Saisies.
