Great Britain’s Alex Peters and Gabriel Cullaigh completed an arduous 2015 Tour de l’Avenir, finishing the seventh and final stage from Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne to Les Bottiers – Les Sybelles as the last two men standing from the six-strong Great Britain team that began the prologue in Tonnerre the previous Saturday.
The final stage of the 2015 edition of the ‘Tour of the Future’, part of the UCI Under 23 Nations’ Cup, packed four major climbs into less than 100 kilometres, including the Tour de France icons of Col du Mollard, Col du Croix de Fer and the spectacular, serpentine Lacets de Montvernier, the latter debuting at Le Tour earlier this summer.
The final stage win went to Russian Matvei Mamykin, getting the better of Jack Haig of Australia on the uphill finish at Les Sybelles, while Marc Soler of Spain, who won the previous stage and with it the yellow jersey, came in 12 seconds behind to claim third place and overall victory.
Great Britain Cycling Team Senior Academy rider Gabriel Cullaigh crossed the line in 70th position in a large group over 28 minutes down on the winner to complete his maiden Tour de l’Avenir, which saw the 19-year-old Yorkshireman hold a top twenty position on general classification through the opening stages of the race after an impressive 14th place in the prologue.
Had a tough week in France in Le Tour De L'avenir. Happy to have got through the mountains in the… https://t.co/Arn3u6Wu7N
— Gabriel Cullaigh (@GabzCullaigh) August 29, 2015
Alex Peters rolled in a few seconds later, the recent Team Sky signing, guesting for Great Britain Cycling Team having ridden an aggressive stage six the day before, riding with the race leaders until the final mountain of the day.
Guest rider Steve Williams and Senior Academy rider Mark Stewart exited the race on stage five, Williams finishing outside the time limit while Stewart was forced to abandon.
Fellow Senior Academy riders Chris Lawless and Jake Kelly both succumbed on the mammoth mountain stage on Friday, leaving Peters and Cullaigh to bring it home for Great Britain on stage seven.
Peters ended the race as Great Britain’s best placed rider on general classification, in 38th place, 51 minutes and 24 seconds behind Soler, with Cullaigh one hour and 27 minutes down in 70th.
