Ireland's David Gaffney and Adam Rafferty, in purple, in action in Greece at the weekend (Photo: Nassos Triantafyllou)
Nineteen young Irish riders, almost all in the junior and U23 ranks, were racing in Europe at the weekend and some - including Conor Murphy (Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team) and David Gaffney (Hagens Berman Jayco) - were making their debuts for new teams.
Some are tipped for great things with those new squads and were riding in a wide variety of races; from national-level events in France and Spain to very challenge encounters against pro team opposition across Europe.
Seth Dunwoody (Bahrain Victorious Development Team), Grace Reynolds (Mégamo Vosges Team) and Lucy Bénézet Minns (Team Féminin Chambéry) took top 10 placings, while others also gave a good account of themselves.
Another man in the top 10 was junior Hugh Og Mulhearne (A.S.Villemur) while fellow junior Caleb McGreevy has already taken a podium result, in Spain, for his new team U19 Academy Région Sud
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David Gaffney who, with Murphy, won a medal at the junior road Europeans last year, made his debut for Hagens Berman Jayco in Greece. He was in action - among nine Irish riders - at the 179km Rhodes GP (1.2).
It came down to a bunch finish - won by Nikiforos Arvanitou (Team United Shipping) - with three of the Irish riders in the bunch, though just on the wrong side of small splits.
Gaffney was 45th at eight seconds, with Killian O'Brien (Team Skyline) in 46th, on the same time. Adam Rafferty, also Hagens Berman Jayco, was just a few places further back in the bunch; 51st at 16 seconds.
Then came the Irish riders from the Velo Performance U23 team; Jack Conroy, on debut, in 87th at 2:04, Curtis Neill in 112th at 2:12, Isaac Burman in 135th at 7:42 and Josh Callaly in 149th at 7:19.
Eoghan Lattimore and Christopher Marshall were non-finishers, though there is plenty more racing to come in Greece for this group as they are set to ride the three-stage Tour of Rhodes (2.2) later this week.
In Boucles de Seine-et-Marne Féminines, in nothern France, yesterday both Reynolds and Bénézet Minns were to the fore, taking 3rd and 6th, after 110km of racing in the national-level event with 1,200m of elevation gain.
They were both in a five-rider breakaway that finished 15 seconds up on the remains of the peloton - numbering just 40 riders from a start list of 110.
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The race was won by Marie-Morgane Le Deunff (Team Avesnois), who was a team mate of Ireland's Fiona Mangan last year at the Winspace Orange Seal ProConti team and also previously rode for Arkéa-B&B Hotels.
Dunwoody, who has ridden for the Bahrain Victorious World Tour team in the early weeks of this season, was racing with the U23 squad this weekend. On Saturday he placed 8th in the 182km Le Tour des 100 Communes (1.2) in France.
His efforts to take a victory were undone with six breakaway riders just about held of the bunch, with Dunwoody taking 2nd in the bunch sprint, thus finishing in 8th position in the race.
On Sunday, Dunwoody lined out again, at Grand Prix Souvenir Bruno Comini (1.2) in Lille, alongside the aforementioned Murphy, a first-year U23 rider making his debut with Decathlon CMA CGM Development.
Dunwoody's team appeared to back Thomas Capra in the bunch sprint, with the Italian taking 4th place and Dunwoody finishing in 19th. The race was won by Belgium's Jules Hesters (Team Flanders-Baloise). Murphy was 147th at 13:28.
Esther Wong, an U23 rider who has raced for Ireland on road and track, rode Trofeo Oro in Euro (1.1) in Italy. It was won by Italian champion, and recent UAE Tour stage and GC winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who finished almost one minute clear solo.
Wong (Team Farto-Kiroot) put in a strong performance - over 107km of racing - to finish in 27th, in a 22-rider group sprinting for 15th at 2:22. Most of the field was much further back.
At Dorpenomloop Rucphen (1.2) in the Netherlands on Sunday - a pan flat 175.8km pro race - Adam Kelly (Campana Imballagi-Morbiato-Trentino) was 14th in the bunch sprint that settled it.
The race was won by Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex), with a second Irish rider - Finn Crockett (VolkerWessels Cycling Team) - also in the bunch and placing 101st.
Irish junior rider Hugh Og Mulhearne was competing in France for his junior team, A.S.Villemur, placing 4th in the 130km Classic Coeur de Brenne U19 on Saturday and 36th at Trophée de la Ville de Châtellerault on Sunday, both national-level races.
Caleb McGreevy was in action in Spain for his new team U19 Academy Région Sud. On Saturday he was 100th in the 2.3km Memorial Santi Segú ITT and Sunday placed 65th in the 138.5km Gran Premi Les Franqueses, at 5:26.
McGreevy opened his season the weekend before last, also in Spain, placing 2nd at Subida a Totalan Juniors. Willem O'Connor (Team Bricquebec Cotentin) was in action in France yesterday, Sunday, at the 168.5km Vienne Classic, finishing in 97th at 5:46.
