The Irish junior team has had a mixed day at the Peace Race in Czechia, which is part of the UCI Junior Nations Cup. Some of the best juniors in the world got up the road in the crosswinds and turned the screw.
Seth Dunwoody, one of the most successful Irish juniors so far this season, was unfortunate to get caught up in a crash and lost valuable time.
While that is a blow for the 17-year-old, the fact he has lost time and is out of the general classification hunt may afford him a some better opportunities to aim for a stage victory, though some of his team mates fared better today.
On the undulating 100km stage, starting and finishing in Litoměřice, the main field was reduced to just 40 riders. Irish juniors Patrick Casey and David Gaffney made that group - in 44th and 49th - some 34 seconds down on the winner.
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Joseph Mullen and Cal Tutty were just a little further back; Mullen in a group at 52 seconds and Tutty at 1:04, well inside the first half of he field on the day when the race split significantly, over 20 minutes from front to rear.
Pavel Šumpík (Czechia) claimed the victory - having won a stage and the overall at Grand Prix West Bohemia (2.1) last weekend. He won the six-rider sprint for victory from world junior road race champion Albert Philipsen (Denmark) and Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Norway).
That six-rider group got up the road on the climb of Mukařov - some 5.3km with an average gradient of 3.5 per cent - crested 30km from the finish and pressed on in very windy conditions.
The race continues tomorrow with a split stage; a flat 8.8km TT in the morning in Třebívlice followed by a 61.4km most flat road stage in the afternoon from Roudnice to Štětí.
