THE European under 23 road race championship over 100 miles here on the Isle of Man yesterday did not provide many clues for Irish team director Alasdair MacLennan regarding Olympic selection, as Aidan Duff was best of the six Irishmen in 64th place so now it is down to the Manx International tomorrow as the final trial to select a man to fill the vacancy in the Olympic road race at Atlanta.
After 10 laps of the testing circuit Candido Barbosa of Portugal surprised the best of the Italians Daniele Contrini, with Serguei Ivanov of Russia third.
This trio went clear at the end of eight laps and on the 55 mile an hour descent from the climb for the final time they were over two minutes ahead, but they slowed so much in their tactical manoeuvering before the final sprint that an Italian led chasing group almost reeled them in at the finish the gap was down to just nine seconds.
Italians were fourth, fifth sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th and after the finish they were involved in a huddle from which a lot of angry shouting could be heard when they learned that Contrini had been beaten for the title by Barbosa.
Duff was first to puncture after only five miles but he quickly regained contact and the six Irishmen stayed together in the big pack - there were 122 starters from 23 countries - until Mark Hutton started a shortlived break going out on the fifth lap. Micheal Fitzgerald was trailing after his chain came off but he fought his way back as Hutton was joined at the front by Marcel Rengil of Switzerland.
After the completion of five laps Fitzgerald and Shane Baker retired and Hutton followed them after he struggled around for another lap when he lost contact because his chain became derailed.
Lap seven was a record for the circuit of 24 minutes and 12 seconds and as four leaders went on from four others followed by another group of five, Duff was the only Irishman left in the dwindling pack as Micheal O'Reilly and Ciaran Power dropped off the back. Power was in a group of six at three minutes and 30 seconds with O'Reilly at 5:50.
Going out on the final circuit Barbosa, Contrini and Ivanov were 1:54 clear of another Italian, Salvatore Commesco and Frenchman Franck Bouyer after another record lap of 23:53 with Duff in the pack of 65 at 2:07.
Duff looked set for a respectable placing but he could not hold his place and finished 3:10 down. He said afterwards: "I got up near the front of the group but when we came to the climb I just did not have it."
Power continued and was placed 83rd at 13:42 with O'Reilly 86th of the 91 finishers, he was at 24:50.
There was a bad start for the Irish in the women's race over four laps of the circuit as Tarja Owens was involved in a crash after only four miles and a couple of miles later the other Irish representative Geraldine Gill also fell.
At the end Kupfernagel had two minutes and 53 seconds to spare over Diana Ziliute of Lithuania with Elisabeth Chavanne Brunel (France) third with the remains of the main group at 3:56.
Owens damaged her bike and suffered bruises and cuts which needed hospital attention so her assignment in the green jersey lasted for less than 10 minutes. Gill continued on alone and did a time trial to the finish. At the end of the first lap she was over five minutes down; her deficit at halfway was 10:30 but she kept going to finish 61st of 64 who survived, 23:16 behind the winner.
