Irish duo off form in classic

CYCLING:BELGIAN RIDER Philippe Gilbert shrugged off the pressure of being the pre-race favourite when he raced to a superb victory in the Amstel Gold Classic yesterday.

The Omega Pharma Lotto rider attacked 500 metres from the top of the finishing climb of the Cauberg, immediately going clear of the front group. His rivals tried to get back on terms, but Gilbert hit the line two seconds ahead of the Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions) and the Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Astana).

Irish riders Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan didn’t fare as well as they would have hoped. Roche was 33rd, two minutes and 36 seconds back, while Deignan was listed as a non-finisher.

However, they’ll hope the hard workout yesterday will sharpen their form for Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne and next Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where Gilbert will once again start as favourite.

In Asia, David McCann starts today’s penultimate stage of the Tour of the Philippines with a clear lead over the other riders in the race. He soloed to an excellent win on Saturday, breaking away alone during the 149km leg to Tagaytay City and hitting the line two and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rivals, the Filipinos Lloyd Lucien Reynante (7-Eleven Racing Team) and Baler Ravina (Batang Tagaytay). He finished in the main bunch on yesterday’s stage, and heads into today’s 142km leg to Subic two minutes 34 seconds ahead of Reynante.

On Saturday, the Under-23 Irish team performed well in the ZLM Tour race in Holland, with Philip Lavery and Aaron Buggle finishing in the large group sprinting for 10th place in the Nations Cup event. They were all 13 seconds behind the winner Arman Kamyshev (Kazakhstan), with Lavery placing 35th and Buggle 41st.

In Belgium, Sam Bennett was best of the two Irish riders in the Under 23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

He was 49th, three minutes and four seconds behind the solo victor, his team-mate Ramunas Navardauskas (Vélo Club La Pomme Marseille). Downey was nine minutes back in 84th place.