Ireland’s Sam Bennett and Philip Lavery both rode strongly at the U23 World Championships road race in Copenhagen today, before being scuppered by a crash-filled fast finale.

The duo’s team mate at the An Post-Sean Kelly team, Andrew Fenn took an impressive third for Great Britain in the bunch sprint that settled the title, with the French team filling the gold and silver medal positions.

Lavery was to the fore at the beginning of the race, jumping around at the head of the peloton but opting not to actually follow any of the early moves.

He was less evident at the head of affairs when the speed was ramped up at the midway stage as many teams – including the French and Italians – tried to break up the field.

However, the Dubliner emerged at the front again on the fourth last lap as attack and counter attack was launched and small groups gained a handful of seconds only to be brought back. Lavery went clear in one such move with Belgian rider Zico Waeytens, who appeared unwilling to ride with the Irish man.

They were overhauled after a brief period out front before the speed of the last three laps meant only the very strongest riders even contemplated attacking.

The early breakaway of Gianluca Leonardi (Italy) and Carlos Alexandre Manarelli (Brazil) was quickly swallowed up once the race proper started with three laps to go.

Sam Bennett adopted a different approach to Lavery’s, opting instead for a low key ride.

He proved able to hold his place between around 20^th and 30^th during the fastest periods of the race and looked determined to chase the best result possible.

It was a tactic adopted by most of those who harboured real ambitions of getting a result. Most of the riders who filled the top ten placings were completely invisible during the race, clearly bent on keeping their powder dry until the finale.

For Bennett, the Irish U23 champion, though it was a tactic that ultimately failed. He was scuppered by a crash that forced him to completely stop on the last lap.

He got going again and put in a massive effort to get back on terms, but came home in 95^th, some 37 seconds after winner Arnaud Demare out-sprinted his team mate Adien Petit, Fenn and the rest of the 87-rider bunch to take the U23 rainbow jersey.

Lavery also nearly came unstuck towards the end, getting slightly held up behind a crash at the back of the bunch. However, he was able to weave through the bodies and was not slowed by the incident.

In the end though, he was not able to position himself on the last lap as well as he had done early one, with the intensity of the finale seeing him slip back down the field before being slightly held up. He eventually finished in the bunch in 53^rd place.

He would have preferred to get a better return for his efforts. However, he had told stickybottle in an interview before the race that he was hopeful of riding well to “put my name back in the minds of people in a positive way” after a frustrating season dogged by illness. He certainly achieved that goal.

Ireland’s other rider in the race, first-year senior Felix English did not look very comfortable and abandoned with three laps remaining.

However, he is at the beginning of his U23 career and has many opportunities ahead of him to get it tight.

(Special thanks to Gary McIlroy for the Photography)

(Special thanks to Gary McIlroy for the Photography)

Results

(There were 138 finishers and 17 DNFs)