Toronto’s Hudson Lubbers took an incredible overall win at the Tour of Ireland on Sunday, capping off a great week for him and his Ignite Cycling team. Lubbers took a stage victory as well as several podiums, as well as the points jersey. His teammate Charles Bergeron won the mountains competition, and Kaden Colling finished third overall. Not surprisingly, Ignite also took best team overall.
According to a post from National Cycling Institute Milton Lubbers Hudson did his first track ride three years ago, saying, “It’s not as good as mountain biking but it’s way better than road.” Clearly, the 17-year-old may be changing his tune about road racing given his big win.
“The last few stages were technical as it rained from start to finish. Unfortunately Stage 4 was cancelled because the roads by the ocean were too flooded from all the rain. That made for fresh legs the following day so the peloton was aggressive,” Lubbers explained. “Lots of breaks tried getting away but with so many people wanting to move up on gc everything was brought back and it ended in a bunch sprint on the last two stages. That said, the peloton was significantly diminished due to the speed and weather.”
Lubbers was closing in on the local hero, Liam O’Brien of the Irish national team. He was only six seconds behind O’Brien going into the last two stages.
“I knew I could count on my sprint to claw back bonus seconds on him in GC. My teammates did an awesome job positioning me and leading me out in the sprints. As a team we had a plan which we executed,” he said. “Overall the race was a fantastic experience. It was my first time racing in Europe and it seemed the style of aggressive racing suited me and the Ignite team well.”
The Toronto native was thrilled with his first race in Europe, and is excited for more. .
“I do have to say a big thank you to the riders, coaches and all the donors who made it possible for us to get over to Europe and have the opportunity to compete in some top tier junior events,: he said. “Without them none of this would have been possible. I’m stoked to get back over to Belgium with the team in a few weeks for more racing.”
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