Dean Harvey (Martigues Sport Cyclisme Payden-Rygel) has taken his best result of the season, after a very strong final stage performance on the attack at the Vuelta a Extremadura stage race in Spain.
In Italy, Irish rider Adam Kelly (Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e Ambiente) put in a significant performance with a 140km breakaway at the 175km UCI 1.2-ranked one-day race Popolarissima.
Harvey (22), who has won the National Cyclocross Championships for the last three years, was up the road in a breakaway yesterday for much of the 153km stage from Finca El Toril to Los Santos de Maimona, in south eastern Spain.
When the group Harvey was in was being closed down what was left of the peloton, the Irish rider had the legs to go on the attack again and held off the group to the finish.
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He took 2nd place, some 17 seconds behind solo winner Adrian Benito, a 20-year-old Spanish rider competing with (Extremadura-Pebetero). The group sprinting for third, containing yellow jersey Ferre Geeraerts (DL Chemicals - Experza), was just one second behind Harvey and was led in by Britain's Charlie Meredith (Grupo Eulen-NUUK).
That was a strong performance by Harvey on a lumpy course, coming in a race featuring 100 starters. He was aggressive through the stage and the fact he had the legs to go again solo, and take a place on the podium, after his breakaway group was being neutralised suggests he is in great condition.
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Harvey, the only Irish rider in the race, was 12th on Friday's opening stage, in a large group 20 seconds down on winner Tyler Tomkinson (Balmoral Cycle Club); the Australian leading in a four-man breakaway. On Saturday's stage 2, Harvey was 38th at 1:51 and finished 24th overall at 2:16.
A number of Irish riders were also in action in Popolarissima, in Treviso, Italy, with Adam Kelly, a former U23 international, making the day-long breakaway which was clear for some 140km before being caught.
Seth Dunwoody (Bahrain Victorious Devo) was making his debut as an U23 - after earlier planned racing was postponed for him. Though the race came down to a sprint, Dunwoody was impacted by crashes on the day and was denied the opportunity to get into the mix.
The race was won by Ivan Smirnov, a 26-year-old Russian with (XDS Astana Development Team), with former Irish U23 road race champion, Jamie Meehan (AVC Aix Provence Dole) finishing in the bunch, in 35th.
Dunwoody, after his issues, was 71st at 14 seconds, while Kelly, after his breakaway efforts, finished in 125th at 1:26.
