Press Release: Sept 27th
Darren Rafferty was the best of the Irish in the Men's Under 23 Road Race - Image courtesy of SW Pix
|
In what has already been a highly successful week for Irish cyclists racing at the UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, the action continued today with the Men’s Under 23 Road Race.
The Irish contingent of Dean Harvey, Jamie Meehan, Liam O’Brien, and Darren Rafferty set out on the 173.6km course.
Rafferty who is racing at World Tour level with EF Education – Easy Post, was the best of the Irish. The reigning Irish Road Race National Champion put in an excellent performance to finish in 12th place, coming home 2:45 behind the winner.
It was a sprint for gold between Nilas Behren for Germany and Martin Svr?ek for Slovakia, with Behren taking home the rainbow jersey. Alec Segaert completed the podium for Belgium.
Thankfully today saw weather conditions improve significantly after a very challenging day of racing yesterday for the junior riders.
The race was always going to be highly competitive with a field of 186 riders all battling it out to come home with a World Championship title. The course, which included five climbs, proved testing, with 80 riders not finishing.
Jamie Meehan finished in 90th, closely followed by Liam O’Brien in 91st and Dean Harvey was 102nd.
Women’s Elite Road Race, including the Women’s Under 23, takes place tomorrow with Fiona Mangan representing Ireland alongside sister Caoimhe O’Brien and Aoife O’Brien.
Top Ten Finish for Bénézet Minns in Junior Women's Road Race
The Junior Women’s and Men’s Road Races took place at the UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships
Press Release: Sept 26th
Lucy Bénézet Minns finished best of the Irish in the Women's Junior Road Race - Image courtesy of SW Pix
|
Today it was the turn of the junior riders to take to the Zurich roads. Aine Doherty, Lucy Bénézet Minns and Aliyah Rafferty raced for Ireland in the Women’s Junior Road Race this morning. And in the afternoon Patrick Casey, Seth Dunwoody, David Gaffney and Cal Tutty raced in the Men’s Junior Road Race.
In a season where she continues to go from strength to strength, Lucy Bénézet Minns had a brilliant race to come home in tenth place. This result comes on the back of her 13th place finish in the Women’s Junior Time Trial earlier this week.
Aliyah Rafferty and Aine Doherty gained valuable experience at championship level and coming home in 38th and 79th place respectively.
Wet weather made for challenging conditions as 120 riders set off around the 73.6km circuit which had a total elevation of 972m.
Following her victory in the Women’s Junior Time Trial, Cat Ferguson made it two from two winning today’s road race for Great Britain. Speaking after the race Bénézet Minns described the conditions as being like an ice rink.
She added: “It was a hard race. I wasn’t too well positioned coming into the first climb but then there was a big crash, so I think it actually worked out alright. I was just kind of on the back foot, between the first two climbs I was just chasing and I got back to the front group just at the bottom of the second climb.”
Describing the top ten result as a decent day out, she joked that she was happy that she didn’t fall off. Following these championships Bénézet Minns will focus her attention on the UCI World Track Championships next month where she will be making her debut at Senior Championship level.
Weather conditions only worsened throughout the day. A large field of 163 riders battled it out in the Junior Men’s Road Race.
Seth Dunwoody was best of the Irish coming home in 26th place. David Gaffney finished in 45th place and Cal Tutty in 66th. Unfortunately Patrick Casey did not finish. Casey was among almost half the field who did not finish.
Speaking to Cycling Ireland afterwards Dunwoody said: “The race was chaos and very sketchy. My legs eventually started to get better on the last lap but by that time my position on the road was too far behind to be in the thick of it. Happy with performance and the team in them treacherous conditions”
----
Tomorrow a team of four Irish riders will contest the Men’s Under 23 Road Race. Dean Harvey, Jamie Meehan, Liam O’Brien and Darren Rafferty will be hoping to add to the Irish success.