Great Britain’s Gabriel Cullaigh took an impressive fourteenth place on the opening prologue stage of the 2015 Tour de l’Avenir on Saturday.
Tour de l’Avenir, or the Tour of the Future, is regarded as the Tour de France for under-23 riders and is contested by national teams, the culmination of the season-long UCI Under 23 Nations’ Cup.
19-year-old Yorkshireman Cullaigh was the best of the six-strong Great Britain squad over the hilly 3.5-kilometre course in the town of Tonnerre in the Burgundy region of France.
Cullaigh, who took stage victory earlier in the season at the UCI Under 23 Nations’ Cup Course de la Paix, completed the test against the clock in five minutes and four seconds, good enough for third place after 77 of the 126 starters.
But as the seeded riders took to the course, Cullaigh was pushed down the standings, with the win going to 2014 Danish under-23 time-trial champion Soren Kragh Anderson, in a time of four minutes and 53 seconds.
Guest rider Alex Peters was second fastest Briton, the Team Sky apprentice finishing 18th in a time of five minutes and six seconds
Next Briton on the results sheet was 19-year-old Chris Lawless, the Team Wiggins rider a second behind Peters.
Welshman Steve Williams, like Peters guesting for Great Britain Cycling Team, came home in five minutes and 16 seconds with Mark Stewart on five minutes and 23 seconds.
Jake Kelly, the first of the British riders to take to the course completed the effort in five minutes and 35 seconds.
The race continues on Sunday with stage one, 160.5 kilometres from Chablis to Toucy, punctuated by a brace of fourth category climbs.
