Irish juniors battle brutal Worlds conditions as Italy wins gold | Video

Seth Dunwoody leads the group in the green of Ireland during the junior men's road race at the UCI World Road Championships in Zurich (Photo: Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com)

The Irish junior team battled through very tough conditions during their road race today at the UCI World Road Championships in Zurich, with the field splitting early a huge gaps emerging.

The hilly and technical course, which is making for very hard racing so far, combined today with very wet conditions in the 127.2km. And when gaps opened, those left behind rarely regained the groups ahead.

As was the case in the junior women's race, crashes were the order of the day for the men's event, with a notable large spill taking place just 15km into the event. That crash, and the pace at the front as the Americans and Danes pushed on, strung out the main field, though Ireland's Patrick Casey was at the head of the peloton.

Just a few kilometres later, and with just over 100km to go, Seth Dunwoody could also be seen close to the front, clearly trying to keep out of trouble as it appeared almost every roundabout was the scene of a crash in the soaking wet conditions.

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Though the field was already reduced, with riders being spat out the back constantly, by the time they reached the first climb of the day - after about 27km - that incline cause further damage. The pace up front meant efforts to attack were few and far between, though a lot of riders at the back were losing contact.

While that climb - the 1.5km Binz averaging just over nine per cent - did a lot of damage, the speed down the descent was very high, as the Danes and Germans really pressed on. And it was at that point of the race, with about 85km to go, the first proper split occurred.

A group of about 10 went clear and though they were soon caught by about 10-15 more riders, three of the Irish were caught in a second large group just behind; Dunwoody, Cal Tutty and David Gaffney.

Just a few kilometres the leaders passed through the finish line - with 81km, over three laps, remaining. They were chased by one small group at about 40 seconds, then another at one minute. And the large group containing the three Irish riders was 1:10 off the leaders.

With the next climb - to be contested three times - not too far away, and the pace at the front remaining relentless - it looked like a day when few, if any, gaps would close. And that's exactly how it panned out.

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Those who were behind simply fell further away as the front of the race split and the strongest riders pulled clear. Eventually a group of four would form up from containing Seb Grindley (Great Britain), Lorenzo Mark Finn (Italy), defending champion Albert Philipsen (Denmark) and Héctor Álvarez (Spain).

Finn - the eventual winning - rode a fantastic race and was attacking off the front of the lead group from the 75km to go marker, also spending a prolonged period of about 25km on his own a little deeper in the event, only being caught with about 35km to go.

Soon after that, Philipsen pushed on and drew away the group of four, with Grindley, Finn and Álvarez. As the finish circuits continued, Grindley would be the first to be dropped - with 24km to go and on the last lap - and it looked like the medals were gone up the road.

However, Philipsen then crashed just after the last lap began as he and Finn were clear, chased by Álvarez and then Grindley. And when Philipsen was out of the race, Finn and Álvarez joined forces at the front. They then began to argue, with Finn responding by attacking solo with 20km to go and riding to gold.

Behind him, Álvarez was caught and passed by Grindley - the Briton taking silver some 2:05 down on Finn. Álvarez was also caught and passed by a three-man chasing group, with Senna Remijn (Netherlands) winning the sprint for bronze at 3:06.

Dunwoody was best of the Irish, finishing in 26th at 10:20 and clearly rode well on the final lap to pick off quite a few riders ahead. First-year junior Gaffney was 45th, at 11:17, and Tutty finished 66th at 20:02. Casey, who has had a very good, but long, season was a non-finisher today.

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