Damien Shaw in Flanders

Post date: Mar 06, 2016 6:24:41 PM

(By Shay O'Toole - Sun. 6th March 2016)

With the Lakeside Wheelers man scheduled to race again on Wednesday of this week in a Kermesse about an hour from Brussels, he will have to recover quickly. It is hoped to have a detailed report on this race next week.

After this very fast second leg which saw the riders cover the total distance in just under four hours Shaw is lying in 81st position a mere 50 seconds behind the overall leader from the World Tour BMC team. The final stage saw the riders face a whopping 182km which was fought out in typical Belgian spring weather....wind and rain. From reports it looked like the An Post team had three riders including Shaw chasing hard for a good period of the race but unfortunately this was to no avail. Final results for this race were not available as a real journalist would say, “at the time of going to press” but keep an eye on these notes in the coming weeks for more news from on Damien’s progress.

Damien Shaw’s pro career continues at pace over the next few weeks with some very challenging races in Belgium. Last weekend he was competing in the 3 Days of West Flanders which is a tough classic type race held in an area of Belgium famous for its steep cobbled hills.

Stage 1 of this event was a 7km prologue in which Shaw posted a very respectable time leaving him just 34 seconds adrift of the fastest time and in 50th place overall. Stage 2 on Saturday was a 173km trek from Bruges to Harlebeke. Once again Damien was in the thick of the action making several attempts to get clear in a breakaway but unfortunately the peloton was having none of it and he finished in a large bunch just 16 seconds after the stage winner crossed the line.