Emer Heverin may only be in her first season as a junior but the Irish teenager has put in a fantastic ride in Belgium today in a stacked field (Photo: Nancy Goossens)
Emer Heverin (CAMS Majaco) may only be in her first season as a junior but the Irish teenager has put in a fantastic ride in Belgium today in a stacked field at junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
And in the junior men's race, which was a UCI-ranked event, Hugh Óg Mulhearne (AS Villemur Cyclisme) was in the select front group that hit the base of the iconic La Redoute climb to battle it out for victory.
Heverin put in a fantastic show of power on that final climb in the women's race to take 5th place. That result, coming as it did on a very hard finish against top riders, really launches her in the eyes of U23 development squads and even pro teams.
Mulhearne finished 19th in the junior men's race, though the fact he made the front group, of about 25 riders, really bodes well for him after 137.6km of racing, with over 2,000m of elevation gain.
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As the final climb was so hard, with the finish at the top, the outcome of both events today, Saturday, came down to a drag race. Whoever made the front groups, and had the most power, rose to the top.
Victoria para el belga Vic de Smet (Soudal) en la Lieja Bastoña Junior 🇧🇪🏆
Paul Hawrylak 🇫🇷🥈y Matvel Iakolev 🇷🇺🥉
➡️ Gran actuación del español Darío Gimeno (Baqué), 8° en meta pic.twitter.com/Prhqtpn9ts
— Avituallamiento Ciclista (@EVTMO_) May 9, 2026
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In the junior women's race, a large group arrived at the base of the climb - just under 1km and averaging eight per cent gradient - just behind solo leader Alejandra Neira (Baqué Movistar Team).
Neira, who was 2nd overall at the recent EPZ Omloop van Borsele Nations Cup stage race in the Netherlands, led the way solo from base to up; charging up the climb to victory.
She won by 15 seconds from Australia's national junior road race and TT champion, Neve Parslow (ARA | Skip Capital). Fancied first-year British junior Melanie Rowe, a team mate of Heverin's at CAMS Majaco, was 3rd at 25 seconds.
Then came Luxembourg's national TT champion, Elena Lopes, in 4th at 32 seconds, with Ireland's Heverin next; taking a fantastic 5th place on the day.
She was just 34 seconds down on the winner and edged Oceania Continental champion, Australia's Chloe Bowen (ARA | Skip Capital), into 6th place.
In the junior men's race, Vic De Smet (Soudal Quick-Step U19) was strongest in the drag race up the final climb to win, becoming Belgium's first ever winner of the event.
The front group he won from, which included Ireland's Mulhearne, formed on the longest climb of the race, Côte de la Vecquée - some 6.6km averaging five per cent and crested 16.5km from the finish.
He won the day just one second ahead of France's Paul Hawrylak (Paris Cycliste Olympique) and Russia's Matvei Iakolev (PC Baix Ebre), who were 2nd and 3rd in such a tightly packed top three.
Mulhearne, the only Irish rider in the race and ranked the best junior rider racing in France for a time earlier this season, was 19th at 27 seconds.
