Ireland's Rafferty and Dunwoody riding strongly in France - Video

Seth Dunwoody, above (centre in blue) and Adam Rafferty having been flying the flag for Ireland in France, with both showcasing their talents (Photo: CA Photographies)

Adam Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco) and Seth Dunwoody (Bahrain Victorious Development Team) have been flying the flag for Ireland at Tour de Bretagne Cycliste (2.2), with both showcasing their talents in what is a very tough race.

Rafferty has been the model on consistency and progression all week, as he so often is; always making the front group as the speed and the repeated small climbs have trimmed the main peloton right back.

Those performances over the six stages to date have moved him up to 15th overall, equal on time with seven riders all effectively equal eighth overall. He is just 27 seconds behind race leader Aubin Sparfel (Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team).

Today it was the turn of Dunwoody to show what he could do as the 181km stage from Plaintel to La Bouëxière in north western France came down to a mass bunch sprint after a small climb on the finishing circuit was tackled five times.

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Finishing on that climb, Dunwoody perhaps opened his sprint a little earlier than those who nudged past him just before the line. However, the Irishman - sprinting on the hoods on the left side - still managed 6th place.

Killian Théot (Van Rysel Roubaix) came through like a rocket on the other side of the road, taking the win and carrying those in his slipstream past the Irishman.

That was Dunwoody's best result of the week, with the Irish rider coming good towards the back end of this race, which bodes well for the bigger goals ahead.

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For Rafferty, tomorrow's final stage could offer a chance for him to take the few seconds he needs to jump up the general classification. Even gaining five seconds would take him to 5th and a single second over his rivals would see him climb to 8th overall.

However, the race may break up in the final tomorrow as the finishing circuit, which will be raced five times, includes a climb of 1.1km at 5.5 per cent average gradient.

With the general classification so tight - 40 seconds covers the top 20 - there are plenty of riders in the pack who will fancy going on a late raid for big returns.

Rafferty has tended to hold his form through to the end of these stage races and with the finish terrain tomorrow much harder than today, it looks like a chance for him.

However, race leader Sparfel, a 19-year-old who looks like a great talent for France, has a strong team around him. They will be absolutely determined to hold onto the race lead and capture outright victory.

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