181 riders lined out for the 45th annual Gorey 3-Day International Stage race. The UCD squad consisted of Ian Richardson, Gavin Haberlin, Tom Doyle, Ross Collins and Barrick Parker.

With a couple of falls and a crash within the first kilometre of stage 1’s 101 km, the stage seemed set for a festival of accidents and crashes. Just before Hackettstown Gavin got held up by a car when trying to avoid an incident in the bunch and was essentially last man on the road in the lead up to the first categorised climb of the day, but managed to regain contact with the leaders at the summit. Ian was brought down heavily in an accident before the second KOM of the day and looked like getting back on when a mechanical cost him dearly, losing over 15 minutes to the leaders. Ross had a strong start to the weekend and managed to stay close to the front all day. Both he, Tom and Gavin finished safely in the bunch, with Barrick, just a few seconds behind.

Stage 2 was the 6km Individual time trial. UCD featured prominently with Ian taking 2nd place with a blistering time of 7 m 10 s, 4 seconds behind the winner and curret British junior time trial champion. Gavin took 10th, pushing UCD up to fourth in the team classification.

Stage 3 was four 24 km laps around Gorey and Camolin. Again Ross was riding well and was unlucky not to score KOM points on the first lap, but a slow puncture forced him to retire on lap 3. Ian and Gavin got in a shortly lived break on lap 1 and Gavin got in a few moves on the final lap too, but was unsuccessful at staying away. Tom and Barrick both looked very comfortable in the bunch and the four riders finished together.

Stage 4 was the return leg to Dublin. With the Stevens Cycleogical team defending their 5 sec lead and closing down every break and keeping the pace high on the front, it never looked like anything but a bunch sprint on the final day. Gavin and Ian were very active before the climbs into Tullow, attacking three or four times each, Gavin attacked again in his home village of Rathvilly taking a small group of riders in chase of a break of four just up the road. Before Baltinglass they were reeled back, with the break getting caught near Donard. Tom was unlucky not to get up in the sprint, but all 5 UCD riders held on until the finish to take 5th placed team overall. Gavin took 12th overall in the rider classification to snatch his first prize of the year. This was a really great start for this team for the first of this year’s stage races.