Irish junior riders Patrick Casey (Team GRENKE-Auto Eder) and Josh Callaly (Cycling Leinster) have put in very strong performances at Grand Prix de Luxembourg (1.1) today.
And though Callaly's Leinster team mate Joseph Mullen finished a little further back, he also showed real potential competing internationally this weekend.
Casey, who has established himself as a top junior on the European road racing scene this year, finished in 2nd place today in Luxembourg, alongside Danish team mate Noah Lindholm Møller Andersen, who crossed the line first today.
The Irish-Danish duo dominated proceedings today and finished a whopping two minutes up on the next man home. That was a very large winning margin at this level, in what is a significant event in UCI-ranked junior one-day racing, involving 109km of racing - eight laps of a course featuring a 4.3km climb at 6.4 per cent - in Hosingen.
Advertisement
To round out a perfect day for Casey's GRENKE-Auto Eder, which is a feeder squad to the Bora-hansgrohe World Tour squad, it also took 3rd place with Paul Fietzke, last year's junior national road race champion in Germany.
Related News
Fietzke won the sprint from a six-man chasing group that finished two minutes down on the winner and runner-up. Callaly took 12th place today - a fine result at this level, especially for a rider doing his racing on the domestic scene.
The Cycling Leinster man finish on his own at 8:44, on a day of huge gaps through the field, and with only 41 finishers from a field of 135 starters. Mullen was among those finishers, finishing in 40th place at 14:23, and doing very well to make it all the way in what was a real war of attrition.
Cycling Leinster's Luca Holmes, David Harrington, Matthew Walls and Patrick O'Sullivan were among the non finishers today.
On Saturday, the Irish riders also took in GP Général Patton (1.1), a 108.5km one-day race, also in Luxembourg. It was won by today's 3rd placed finisher - German Paul Fietzke (GRENKE-Auto Eder).
His Irish team mate, Casey, was 8th at 3:35, and for Cycling Leinster Mullen was the only finisher; placing 32nd at 8:42 on a day when just 35 riders finished.
