Eddie Dunbar in action at the European Championhips in France, where Mark Downey was best of the Irish.
By Brian Canty
Mark Downey has put in a huge performance for Ireland in the U23 road race at the European Championships in France, crossing the line 14th in a dramatically reduced bunch sprint.
The Banbridge, Co Down, rider was one of just 19 riders who came to the line in Plumelec to contest the sprint for the medals as the bunch split to pieces on the run in.
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But he was no match for Alexandr Riabushenko of Belarus who took gold from Bjorg Lambrecht of Belgium and Italian Andrea Lambrame who took silver and bronze respectively.
It’s one of the best performances of Downey's career and he can take an enormous amount of satisfaction for being in the mix at the end of the 150-kilometre contest that took just over three and a half hours to complete.
Next best was Eddie Dunbar in 41st some 20 seconds back while Michael O’Loughlin was a further 10 seconds back in 48th.
Matt Teggart and Daire Feeley were at 3’11” and 7’52” respectively, in 77th and 106th of the 121 finishers.
More to follow.
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