Irish junior road race champion, Freddie Winkley, leading, and Team Ireland's Fionn Killeen were the top Irish riders in the Netherlands
Freddie Winkley (Harrogate Nova Race Team), the new Irish junior road race champion, and Team Ireland's Fionn Killeen were both in great form on the second stage of Watersley Junior Challenge (2.1), getting up the road in the Netherlands.
Killeen was among the first batch of riders to get off the front, as a group of 17 eventually came together and gained almost three minutes, while Winkley was there too and really impressed in the final.
Having declare for Ireland earlier this year and then won the junior men's road race at the National Road Championships in Mayo, he is competing in Holland in his first major event as national champion.
Yesterday, the stage was run off over five laps of a circuit of just over 20km, with two climbs each lap. Though the pressure was on from the start, in what is a major international race, the winning moves did not get off the front until just after the halfway point.
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One of Winkley's team mates got up the road first on the third lap. A group of eight, including the impressive Killeen, getting clear shortly after him. Just as they made their move, Winkley darted across to them, with a couple more following him.
While the attackers they all merged into one group over the following few kilometres, a five-man chasing group got clear and made contact with them, making for a breakaway of 17.
However, those five only bridged up to the leaders with about 10km to go, and immediately they got across the attacks from the group began.
Winkley's Harrogate Nova team mate, Matthew Fletcher, attacked with fellow British rider Edwin Boyle (Flanders U19 Academy) for company.
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There was a stall in the group and on the penultimate climb, the United States national team duo of Sylvan Garrelts (13th on GC at the Junior Tour this year) and Rowan Nistal went after them.
Again, Winkley responded but as he did, the two Americans appeared to sit up, so the Irish champion kept going in pursuit of the two leaders.
Winkley caught them, but there as a regrouping, and though he went again from the bottom of the small climb to the finish, and looked about to finish 3rd, Ukrainian Pavlo Otmorskyi (Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development Team) pipped him.
Up ahead, Fletcher won the day by seven seconds from Boyle, with Otmorskyi and Winkley in 3rd and 4th at 17 seconds.
The late attacking, combined with the final 400m ramp to the finish line caused splits in the front group, with Killeen finishing in 16th at 37 seconds.
The very front of the bunch was 2:54 down on the line, with two of the Team Ireland riders in that group; George Sevastopulo the best of them, placing 52nd at 3:04. Junior Tour winner, Rian McCrystal, was next, in 56th at 3:09.
Conor Regan was 69th at 6:12, James Armstrong placed 69th at 6:25 and Darragh Byrne was 75th at 9:07.
Going into Sunday's final stage, Winkley was placed 7th overall at 16 seconds while Killeen was 15th at 39 seconds.
