Irish junior Josh Callaly (16) seizes the day to win big in Portugal

*Josh Callaly took the race by the scruff of the neck and had the legs to keep it going all the way to the line for a big win in Portugal today* *while Joseph Mullen also had a great weekend*

Josh Callay, a 16-year-old Irish junior racer with Navan Road Club, has scored a big win in Portugal today. He finished solo in the fourth and final round of Junior Portuguese Cup, the premier road series in Portugal.

Callaly, who was guesting with local team DunasVale-Pereira&Gago, was out front on his own at the end of the race while his Navan team mate Joseph Mullen, riding today for the same team, was just behind and taking his own impressive result after what was a very hard race.

As today's event - 93km with 1,500 metres of climbing - was the final round of the series, it was a stacked field, and one with 100 starters, most of them from Portugal.

Callaly has already impressed on home roads this year, with a win in the Ian Gallahar Memorial in Summerhill, Co Meath, on the opening day of the season before a very strong performance at Gorey Three Day saw him take 2nd overall, missing the final yellow jersey by just four seconds to Peter Kirwan (Lucan CRC).

*Joseph Mullen, leading, on his way to 8th in the third round of the Junior Cup yesterday*

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For his part, Mullen - already a cyclocross international - has also been having a great season, which has included wins in the Boyne GP and a series of strong results in one-day events and stage races during racing stints in Portugal in recent months.

Those recent results in Portugal include his 8th place finish in round 3 of the Junior Portuguese Cup yesterday, when Callaly was 29th. Mullen was also 4th overall in the Troféu Jose Poeira stage race in April, winning the first-year junior category.

In today's race the Irish duo made the breakaway and also teamed up well to launch some attacks as the finish approached. The final corner was about 800 metres from the line and was all uphill, with an average gradient of about 10 per cent.

Callaly attacked going into that corner and came out of it with a gap. He then buried himself on the uphill, cobbled, run to the line to win by six seconds from José Moreira, a regular winner on the junior scene in Portugal riding for Silva & Vinha-ADRAP-Sentir Penafiel. Afonso Gomes (Efapel Cycling Academy) was 3rd today, some nine seconds down on Callaly.

In the drag race to the line between the other breakaway men behind Callaly, the group split, with Mullen finishing in 6th place at 18 seconds. The main field was just over 30 seconds behind the last of the breakaway men today after 2½ hours of racing.