Junior Tour of Ireland 2024
The Cycling Ireland team of Conor Murphy, Cal Tutty, Josh Callaly and Max Fitzgerald, finished seventh in the 2024 Junior Tour of Ireland. The tour ran from Tuesday, 9th of July, until Sunday, 14th of July.
Hot Tubes 1 won the team General Classification, with Kelly Benefits Cycling claiming second place and Lee Valley Youth CC Team 1 in third.
In the General Classification, victory went to Brendan Luongo, for Hot Tubes 1. Otis Engel, riding for Kelly Benefits Cycling, and Thomas Mead, riding for Lee Valley Youth CC Team 1, completed the podium.
Conor Murphy was the highest placed Irish team rider in 12th place. Josh Callaly finished second in the Mountains Competition.
The highlight for the Irish team came when Max Fitzgerald won Stage 5. The stage crossed 112.7km from Ennis to Gort.
Racing got underway from Barefield, with a 63.60km circuit on Tuesday. The first yellow jersey went to William Gilbank for Lee Valley Youth CC Team 1. Fitzgerald got off to a good start with a top ten finish in the opening stage.
Tutty also got off to a strong start winning the KOM jersey after Stage 1. After the opening stage the Cycling Ireland team were sixth out of 23 teams.
Stage 2 began in Ennis and covered 93.70km to Kilkee. Hot Tubes 1 claimed first and second place with Brendan Luongo and Caden Budd. Murphy was the highest place Cycling Ireland rider, coming home in 12th place. Luongo continued to lead the General Classification.
Cal Tutty and Conor Murphy both put in strong performances in the KOM sections. The Cycling Ireland sat in seventh going into the third stage, where they would remain for the rest of the tour.
Michael Collins won Stage 3 for E. Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster. Murphy once again was best of the Irish team riders, with Max Fitzgerald winning the first two KOM sections
Stage 3 was 122.80km from Ennis to Kilfenora and saw Luongo further extend his lead in the General Classification.
There was no change to the top of the General Classification in Stage 4, however, it was Nick Makin for Mid Devon RC who won the stage.
Stage five saw victory for Fitzgerald and a change at the top of the leaderboard in the General Classification. Caden Budd gained a two second advantage over his teammate Luongo.
The final stage saw riders complete 74.40km around Ennis. Victory went to Antoine Bergeron, riding for Ignite Canada.
Well done to everyone involved in the Junior Tour of Ireland, it’s great to see over 110 riders and over 20 teams taking part.