The Irish newcomer celebrates his biggest success to date, giving Team GRENKE - Auto Eder another international top result.
A stage victory, four days in the leader’s jersey, and ultimately a strong third place in the general classification – that’s the summary of Team GRENKE - Auto Eder’s performance at the stage race Eroica Juniores. The four-day event around Siena, Italy, is part of the UCI Nations Cup, the premier racing series in U19 cycling. Accordingly, the competition is traditionally strong. This year’s edition featured numerous national teams and some of the strongest European U19 teams.
Team GRENKE - Auto Eder demonstrated its strength from the start. The BORA - hansgrohe U19 team decisively won the opening team time trial, taking the overall lead. In the following stages, Irish team rider Patrick Casey skilfully defended the red leader’s jersey and only lost it on the very last day. Nonetheless, Casey secured a remarkable third place in the overall standings. Impressively, the Irish talent had joined Team GRENKE - Auto Eder through the “Red Bull Junior Brothers” programme. His third place was now his greatest international success to date.
While Team GRENKE - Auto Eder’s performance was overwhelmingly positive, the team also faced several setbacks. Numerous crashes across all five stages forced many riders to retire from the race. With Paul Fietzke (Germany), Theodor August Clemmensen (Denmark), Lorenzo Finn (Italy), and Thibaut Van Damme (Belgium), also four team members had to abandon. This was especially unfortunate as all four were in very good shape, with Fietzke initially leading the race after the first stage.
Team GRENKE - Auto Eder’s next race is the Grand Prix West Bohemia, which will be held on April 27th and 28th in Kyšice, Czech Republic.
Quotes from the finish line
“The last stage was very difficult and I was constantly attacked by other riders. That made it nearly impossible to win. However, I would say this is the biggest result of my career and hopefully something I can build on going forward. Overall, I’m happy with third place.” – Patrick Casey
“Excluding the crashes, it was a highly successful race for us. Patrick performed exceptionally well and achieved the best possible outcome. To reach the podium at a Nations Cup event is really special. The result is especially noteworthy since Patrick is one of the winners of the first edition of our Red Bull Junior Brothers scouting program. This shows that our youth development strategy is working. In this context, I also want to highlight the performance of Anatol Friedl, who improved significantly during the race and provided perfect support to Patrick.” – Dr Christian Schrot, Sports Director
Photo: Red Bull