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Jamie Meehan is having an incredible season and he has extended his strong run, in his neo pro campaign, on the queen stage in Slovakia today (Photo: Xavier Pereyron)<\/p>\n
Jamie Meehan’s Cofidis team hit he front on the final stage of Tour de Slovaquie (2.1) in a bid to set-up the Irishman for a big result. And the neo pro did not disappoint, taking 3rd on the summit finish and moving into 4th in the final general classification.<\/p>\n
That result continues Meehan’s relentless progress in his first full season as a pro, having now finished 4th in two stages races and 3rd in another as his team has really backed him through the campaign.<\/p>\n
While the terrain in the first four stages of the race had its fair share of climbing, it was not selective enough for Meehan to make his move, though he did what he needed to to stay in contention for a GC result.<\/p>\n
Today’s final stage – 147.4km from Slia\u010d to Kr\u00e1\u013eova ho\u013ea – concluded with the biggest climb of the week; the HC Kr\u00e1\u013eova ho\u013ea, which was 12.9km average 8.6km.<\/p>\n
The key selection of the race was always going to be made on that ascent, after a shake-up of sorts had already taken place on stage 3, when just 28 riders were sprinting for victory, with Meehan among them in 9th.<\/p>\n
Cofidis clearly had a lot of confidence in Meehan and put the team on the front today as they raced into the final climb, of four. And as that climb continued, and the strongest men pulled clear, Meehan was at the pointy end.<\/p>\n
He found himself in very good company, alongside race leader, and stage 3 winner, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarch\u00e9). Emerging climb talent Henrique Bravo (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team), who has ridden a storm through the major U23 stage races this year, was with them.<\/p>\n
And while those three were the strongest, young French talent Maxime Decomble (Groupama – FDJ United), who held the yellow jersey for most of Tour de l’Avenir last year, when he also took bronze in the U23 TT at the Worlds, was fighting to stay in touch.<\/p>\n
As Van Eetvelt and Bravo threw in multiple attacks, and covered each other’s moves, Meehan was the only ride able to match them, with a group of others trying to stay in touch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Meehan only lost the wheel at the very top of the climb, as Van Eetvelt’s and Bravo’s battle for the final yellow jersey, finally drew them clear of the Irish rider.<\/p>\n At the summit, Van Eetvelt had too much for Bravo, beating him to stage victory, in the leader’s jersey, by five seconds, with Meehan 3rd at 14 seconds. Decomble, who fought all the way, was 4th, in the same time as Meehan after battling his way to him.<\/p>\n Agonisingly, that performance by Decomble meant he hung on to 3rd place overall, as Meehan needed to just one second on the French rider to take the final spot on the podium.<\/p>\n And though he just about came up short, Meehan can be very happy with his performance, especially as it comes after placing 3rd overall in Tour de l’Ain (2.1) in July and 4th on GC at La Route d’Occitanie-CIC (2.1) in June.<\/p>\n This day next week, Meehan will be lining out in his first senior men’s road race at the UCI World Road Championships riding in support of Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who will be chasing gold after his bronze of 12 months ago in Rwanda.<\/p>\n Lennert Van Eetvelt wins Tour of Slovakia \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n Victory on the climb of Kr\u00e1\u013eova ho\u013ea and final GC after great battle with Henrique Bravo \ud83d\udc9b pic.twitter.com\/uALgv7T0Ze<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 (@LottoIntermarch) September 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"Callaly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789972218_640_callaly-quot-we-were-racing-against-jakobsen-lampaert-savage-from-the-start-quot.jpg\")
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