L'Essor Breton Race Brittany - Irish team racing

Colonialboy

I see some of Irelands top A1 'amateurs' are off to France to race a 4-day .
The Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes team.
Its a preparation race for the RAS.
It will be a benchmark for all Irish amateurs to see how they get on.
They deserve support for putting it all together themselves and going into the lions den. Best of luck, hope they do well. May be an inspiration for others to try some continental racing.

http://www.essorbreton.infini.fr/index.html

LES EQUIPES POUR L'ESSOR BRETON 2012 :

EQUIPES ETRANGERES : - DAN MORRISSEY SPEEDY SPOKES(IRLANDE) - EFC OMEGA PHARMA QUICK STEP(BELGIQUE)

EQUIPES DN1 : - C.C ETUPES - SOJASUN ESPOIRS - E.C.SAINT ETIENNE LOIRE - GUIDON CHALETTOIS - TOP 16 CYCLISME - TEAM U NANTES ATLANTIQUE - B.I.C.2000 - V.C.ROUEN 76 - VENDEE U

EQUIPES DN2 : - U.C.CHOLET 49 - COTES D'ARMOR CYCLISME - G.S.C.BLAGNAC

EQUIPES DN3 : - V.C.PAYS DE LOUDEAC - V.C.P.LORIENT - HENNEBONT CYCLISME

SELECTION DEPARTEMENTALE : - FINISTER

Colonialboy

Im on my own on this one.. but sure who cares..
Looks like the Irish lads ... had a hotday in the saddle.
3 in the top 40, 1min30 back, and the rest of the team scattered at the tail end of a bunch 20+mins off the pace.
But the DMO DanMorrissey/Speedy Spokes team overall is in a good position.
http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14058-0-1.html

This is a high quality 'development' race , 'Vino' won this race 2 yearsbefore he went on to win the Dauphne in his first big win ...

Unfortunately there was a bad crash in the opening few k's, one rider hauled off in a helicopter, but he is ok. The seriousness of the incident threw alot of the riders off , check out the helmet that saved his life.
http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14048-0-1.html

cmon the Irish lads, teach them Frenchies to come over here and steal our fish RAS

Roger Hassenforder

]
*EQUIPES ETRANGERES : - DAN MORRISSEY SPEEDY SPOKES(IRLANDE) - EFC OMEGA PHARMA QUICK STEP(BELGIQUE) 

Great to see them in such company

full gas

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

]
*EQUIPES ETRANGERES : - DAN MORRISSEY SPEEDY SPOKES(IRLANDE) - EFC OMEGA PHARMA QUICK STEP(BELGIQUE) 

Great to see them in such company

Great to see the team out there for sure , just a pity there isn't a couple if young guys on the team , hope the rest of the race goes well for them anyhow

Diarmuid

Keep the reports coming. Interesting to see how the guys get on...

seve65

"Certaines équipes ont beaucoup souffert comme par exemple les irlandais de Dan Morrissey Speedy Spokes."

www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14050-0-1.html

Colonialboy

http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14077-0-1.html

Another tough days riding Id say. Reading the reports, theres a Breton, French, Belgium rivalry developing, which is keeping the pace high.
7 teams woken at 6:45 for blood checks and 6 riders before the start called in.
Unfortunately one of the Irish lads has abandoned, two managed to finish in the main bunch, Timmy Barry and Sean Lacey just over a minute off the stage winner and both sitting 2 mins back in 29th and 30th overall.
Mark Dowling 46th overall 15mins , Paidi O'Brien and Mickie Fitzgerald are hanging in there too.

But as a team they are well positioned 9th of 18th, 5mins off 8th and 2mins ahead of 10th.
I guess its important they represent Irish cycling well, if theres ever going to be others following this route.

full gas

Colonialboy wrote: »

http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14077-0-1.html

Another tough days riding Id say. Reading the reports, theres a Breton, French, Belgium rivalry developing, which is keeping the pace high.
7 teams woken at 6:45 for blood checks and 6 riders before the start called in.
Unfortunately one of the Irish lads has abandoned, two managed to finish in the main bunch, Timmy Barry and Sean Lacey just over a minute off the stage winner and both sitting 2 mins back in 29th and 30th overall.
Mark Dowling 46th overall 15mins , Paidi O'Brien and Mickie Fitzgerald are hanging in there too.

But as a team they are well positioned 9th of 18th, 5mins off 8th and 2mins ahead of 10th.
I guess its important they represent Irish cycling well, if theres ever going to be others following this route.

It's important they represent them selfs well for sure ,but for Irish cycling sake it's more important we start sending young riders to these events , what these lads have done has notting to do with cycling ireland it's self funded and well done to them, but for Irish cycling sake they need to be getting a young squad together early in the year lay the events out in front of them and let them progress as the the year goes on , well don't to the lads in France they got of there arses and got them selfs to a race in France and are holding there own , i am sure they have already had this idea in the cycling ireland office , so is it budget is the problem or what

Colonialboy

oouch , thats got to hurt , two stages today, morning team time trial and afternoon stage.
Lundi 7 mai au matin - Et. 3 : Clm par équipes entre Caudan et Languidic (25.5 km)
Lundi 7 mai dans l'après-midi - Et. 4 : Branderion - Gavres (97.7 km)

In the team time trial DMO/SpeedySpokes came in 1min 40 mins behind Omega Pharma Quick Step, unfortunately that was last of the 18 teams but still, http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14102-0-1.html

In the afternoon a 9 man break had 3.30 on the peloton who mistimed the chase and the 9 men fought it out for the finish. Another Beligian stage vistory which isnt pleasing their French hosts.
sounds like full on racing, averaged 43km for the first hour.
http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14106-0-1.html
The bunch came in 8 secs back, and fair play three of the DMO lads were in that bunch
BARRY Tim DMO 0 mn:08 s
DOWLING Mark DMO 0 mn:08 s
LACEY Sean DMO 0 mn:08 s
O'BRIEN Paidi DMO 1 mn:48 s
(did someone mention 'we should be sending young fellas to this ;-) those guys are all young fellas )

Micky Fitzgerald has abandoned, though he was in the TTT lineup.
But the lads are holding'ish their places on GC after the stage
30 LACEY Sean DMO 4 mn:02 s
33 BARRY Tim DMO 4 mn:24 s
46 DOWLING Mark DMO 16 mn:59 s
88 O'BRIEN Paidi DMO 39 mn:51 s

But as a team they are still a respectable 11th of 18.
11 Dan Morrissey - Speedy Spokes 30 mn:53 s

Last day tomorrow, 144 Kms of chasing Belgians around the backroads fields of France. Mardi 8 mai - Et. 5 : Ploemeur - Lorient (144.3 km)

murf85

Colonialboy wrote: »

oouch , thats got to hurt , two stages today, morning team time trial and afternoon stage.
Lundi 7 mai au matin - Et. 3 : Clm par équipes entre Caudan et Languidic (25.5 km)
Lundi 7 mai dans l'après-midi - Et. 4 : Branderion - Gavres (97.7 km)

In the team time trial DMO/SpeedySpokes came in 1min 40 mins behind Omega Pharma Quick Step, unfortunately that was last of the 18 teams but still, http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14102-0-1.html

In the afternoon a 9 man break had 3.30 on the peloton who mistimed the chase and the 9 men fought it out for the finish. Another Beligian stage vistory which isnt pleasing their French hosts.
sounds like full on racing, averaged 43km for the first hour.
http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14106-0-1.html
The bunch came in 8 secs back, and fair play three of the DMO lads were in that bunch
BARRY Tim DMO 0 mn:08 s
DOWLING Mark DMO 0 mn:08 s
LACEY Sean DMO 0 mn:08 s
O'BRIEN Paidi DMO 1 mn:48 s
(did someone mention 'we should be sending young fellas to this ;-) those guys are all young fellas )

Micky Fitzgerald has abandoned, though he was in the TTT lineup.
But the lads are holding'ish their places on GC after the stage
30 LACEY Sean DMO 4 mn:02 s
33 BARRY Tim DMO 4 mn:24 s
46 DOWLING Mark DMO 16 mn:59 s
88 O'BRIEN Paidi DMO 39 mn:51 s

But as a team they are still a respectable 11th of 18.
11 Dan Morrissey - Speedy Spokes 30 mn:53 s

Last day tomorrow, 144 Kms of chasing Belgians around the backroads fields of France. Mardi 8 mai - Et. 5 : Ploemeur - Lorient (144.3 km)

Any update on how they finished?

Murph100

http://www.sportbreizh.com/Actualites-330-14121-0-1.html

Colonialboy

On the last stage
39 DOWLING Mark DMO 0 mn:31 s
45 BARRY Tim DMO 0 mn:31 s
82 O'BRIEN Paidi DMO NP
91 LACEY Sean DMO Abandon

14 adandoned on the last day, so obviously had been a tough race

Overall out of 80 Finishers
29 BARRY Tim DMO 4 mn:53 s
...this time would get 16th in the young riders , so shows the level coming thru
42 DOWLING Mark DMO 17 mn:28 s
(well done lads)

no classification as a team, I expect cos only 2 finished
It will be interesting to see how this team gets on in the RAS . Fair play to all involved.

RobFowl

Fair play to them I think it's great to see clubs go off to race this sort of event. Hope to see a lot more do it in the future.
The Ras is looking like a hard one this year so the more good quality preparation the better..

Roger Hassenforder

kudos to all involved.