Seth Dunwoody was 6th on today's stage 4 at Tour de l'Avenir, adding that to his 3rd place finish of yesterday and 7th on stage 1. Unfortunately for Armagh's Dunwoody, his finishing effort into Val-Suran, in eastern France, was impeded by a sketchy move by one of the Italians.
And after reviewing the footage of the bunch sprint, the judges relegated Italian rider Davide Donati to the back of the bunch. That meant though Dunwoody crossed the line in 7th, he has moved up to 6th.
Donati is aged 20 years and rides for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Rookies. A quality rider, he was called up to the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team for Tour de Wallonie (2.Pro) last month and won a stage in a bunch sprint. He is also Italian U23 TT champion.
However, that record aside, he moved to his right today at high speed, during the peak of the bunch gallop, making significant contact with Dunwoody, who thankfully stayed upright, as per the footage below.
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One of the riders ahead of the Irish-Italian duo drops back through the front of the bunch in the sprint, with Donati passing him on the inside and Dunwoody on the outside.
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However, though that phase of the gallop was negotiated safely, Donati then moved to his right, bumping Dunwoody and derailing his sprint. Neither rider looked likely to finish on the podium, anyway, though Dunwoody may have done slightly better but for the disruption.
The stage was won by Mathieu Kockelmann (Luxembourg) from Cesar Macias (Mexico) and Anže Ravbar (Slovenia), after Ireland's Jamie Meehan and Adam Rafferty were on the attack - which you can read about here.
