Conn McDunphy has taken his best result of the season, arguably the best of his career, riding for EvoPro Racing in the Netherlands today when he emerged as one of the survivors from the breakaway.
The 25-year-old former elite Irish TT champion ended PWZ Zuidenveld Tour (1.2) in 8th place and on the same time as race victor Coen Vermeltfoort (VolkerWessels Cycling Team).
McDunphy and his Belgian team Maarten Verheyen both made the large breakaway that dominated the 180km race, which took the riders from Dalen to Nieuw Amsterdam.
That large front group split several times before coming back together and it wasn’t until the leaders entered the final 10km that the decisive move was made.
Related News
Nine riders from the group distanced the others, with McDunphy in the front section. Eventual winner Vermeltfoort – who has already won this year at Tour du Loir et Cher and Tour de Normandie – had several team mates in the breakaway today, which was to prove vital in the latter stages of the contest.
He sprinted in at the head of the nine-man group to win from Tomáš Kopecký (ABLOC CT) and Marcus Sander Hansen (Uno-X Dare Development Team), with McDunphy 8th after four hours of racing.
There were five other Irish riders in the race including four from EvoPro Racing – Cian Keogh, Tom Moriarty, Mitchell McLaughlin and Liam Curley – as well as Conor Lambert (XSpeed United Continental). All five were among a large number of non-finishers today, with 70 of the 155 starters abandoning.
