McCarthy wins Tour de l'Avenir opener

Jay McCarthy (Jayco-AIS) won the prologue opener of the Tour de l'Avenir in France. The 19-year-old from Queensland clocked 4:14.74 for the 3.7km course through the streets of Dole, south east of Dijon to finish half a second faster than Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen (4:15.26) with Jakob Steigmiller (Germany) third in a time of 4:16.42.

The Dane showed his recovery after a hectic lead up to the Olympic Games in London where he won the gold medal in the omnium competition. The day however belonged to McCarthy who is on a roll.

"This is the biggest win of my career," said McCarthy. "But I have to say I am a little surprised by the result because I've been preparing to go for the overall and to race well in the last three stages in the French Alps."

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The short but technical course may not have been to McCarthy's liking but he still motored to the win at an average pace of nearly 50km/h.

After finishing second to Rohan Dennis at the national championships at the u23 road race, McCarthy went on to win a stage and the overall at the Tour of Wellington. His European stint with Jayco-AIS has netted him wins at Trofeo Banca Popolare Piva, Toscana Coppa delle Nazioni and Tour de Bretagne. Most recently, he was runner-up at GP Capodarco.

McCarthy is on the long list for the Australian u23 team for next month's UCI Road World Championships in Limburg with five riders set to take the start line.

"Training has been coming along very well and I feel in strong condition," McCarthy explained.

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