Conor Murphy of Team Ireland has taken his second UCI-ranked junior victory, and his first win in a UCI Nations Cup, after blasting around the stage 2a TT course at Course de la Paix Juniors (2.2) in Czech Republic.
And because the Irish teenager finished in the reduced bunch yesterday, he got to exchange his Irish TT champion's jersey for the yellow jersey in the race. That is believed to be the first time an Irish rider has held the race lead in a UCI Junior Nations Cup race.
Murphy, the Irish junior 10 mile TT record holder, flew around the course in an average speed of 50.526km per hour. In 2nd place, by just one second, was the Dutch and European junior TT champion, and this year's junior Paris Roubaix winner, Michiel Mouris.
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Vos Coleman of Belgium was 3rd, at 12 seconds - a considerable chunk of time to give away in such a short TT at this level. David Gaffney of the Irish team, who also made the reduced bunch yesterday, also put in a good shift this morning against the watch in Třebívlice to take 21st place at 30 seconds.
The race continues with a road stage this afternoon, with the Irish team set to try and defend the yellow jersey on a pan flat 58km course.
More to come.
