Conor Dunne rips it up in France with solo move; Jack Wilson also top 10 at Kreiz Breizh

Conor Dunne has put in a great ride on the opening stage of the Kreiz Breizh Elite stage race in France today (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)

Ireland’s Conor Dunne has put in a very strong performance on the opening stage of the Kreiz Breizh Elites stage race in France, putting in a great solo bid for stage victory in closing stages only to be caught close to home by a chase group of four.

The leading quintet would survive out front to compete for the stage win, with Dunne coming home in 5th but gaining time on the rest of the field and setting himself up nicely for a tilt at the general classification in the three-day, four stage UCI 2.2 event.

Dunne made his move on the 170km stage with around 30km remaining. He jumped from a 20-man group that had formed at the head of affairs, which also included Dunne’s team mate Jack Wilson and former Irish champion Matt Brammeier (Synergy Baku).

Dunne was leading alone by around 40 seconds as the riders flew around the four 8km finishing circuits in Plouray, before being joined by the four man chase group.

The breakaway consisted of Matteo Busato (MG Kvis-Willier), Dunne (An Post-Chainreaction), Tom Vermeer (Jo Piels), Jarno Gmelich (Metec-TKH Continental) and Kévin Lebreton (Armée de Terre).

It the closing stages in was Kévin Lebreton (Armée de Terre) who proved strongest and took the stage win.

As well as taking 5th place, Dunne also has the lead in the climbers' classification. And team mate Wilson put in a very strong ride just behind his countryman in the winning escape, taking 10th on the day.