Conn McDunphy, the former Irish elite TT champion riding for US squad Team Skyline, has taken his latest win in a UCI-ranked international race, following on from his stage victory in Tour de Beauce (2.2) in Canada earlier this year.
The Irish rider was best today on stage 2 at Tour of Szeklerland (2.2) in Romania, just 24 hours after he went very close to a win on stage 1, only to see his chance slip away.
On the 171km stage today - from Târgu Mureș to Miercurea Ciuc - McDunphy again went on the attack, after finishing 4th yesterday, and pulled off something of an epic ride to win.
In a close sprint to the line, he just about got the better of 20-year-old Italian Alessandro Romele (Astana Qazaqstan Dev), with Slovakian Matthias Schwarzbacher (ATT Investments) 3rd.
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McDunphy had been clear for most of the stage in a large breakaway, driving the pace along at the front in often torrential rain. That group was whittled right back until just McDunphy and Romele remained.
For much of the last hour, the remains of the bunch were just behind the last men standing in the breakaway. And when the gap came right down, Riccardo Zoidl (Team Felt Felbermayr) came across to McDunphy and Romele.
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That trio just about hung on, the bunch at their back wheels, on the line. McDunphy had the legs to take a brilliant win on a day when he did most of the work and the outcome hung in the balance right until the every end.
The remainder of the bunch finished behind, on the same time as the breakaway trio, strung out as the crossed the line. While McDunphy and Romele hung on for 1st and 2d, former World Tour rider Zoidl was just about caught on the line and had to settle for 5th.
More to come
Conn McDunphy (Team Skyline) WINS the last stage of Tour of Szeklerland in Miercurea Ciuc! ??? He survived up there from the early breakaway with the peloton finishing just behind him. Hats off. #TourofSzeklerland2024 pic.twitter.com/GPeMT8xUvE
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) August 9, 2024
