Seth Dunwoody, who was among a group of Irish riders in action across Europe this weekend, took an aggressive approach to La Philippe Gilbert juniors (2.1) stage race in Belgium.
The Cannibal B Victorious rider, who was 5th in in the junior TT at the World Championships the week before last, got off to a flying start on Saturday. He placed 4th on the opening stage of the race, some 82km from Harzé to La Gleize.
Dunwoody won the bunch sprint for 4th after the 100-rider peloton finished closely behind the breakaway men, who made it all the way to compete for victory.
The stage was won by Belgian Jasper Schoofs (ACROG-Tormans) from Spain's Héctor Álvarez (Lucta-Granja Rinya-InfinObras), with Belgium's Héctor Álvarez (Lucta-Granja Rinya-InfinObras) 3rd at six seconds. Dunwoody claimed the bunch sprint some 21 seconds back.
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Today's second stage was 112.3km from Harzé to Remouchamps and took in seven short and sharp categorised climbs, including La Redoute, which was crested just 5km from the finish.
Dunwoody went on the attack early on the stage and was overhauled, then working for the team through most of the remainder of the race; his team mates Kasper Borremans and Jan Michal Jackowiak eventually finishing 2nd and 4th.
The stage - and overall - was won by Álvarez - out on his own some 12 seconds up on Finland's Borremans, with Claisse a further three seconds down in 3rd place. Dunwoody was 57th at 7:23.
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Elsewhere today, Dillon Corkery (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) and Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) were in action in the 214km Paris-Tours Elite (1.Pro), which included ten gravel sectors in the final 70km.
Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) were 1st and 2nd, after catching and going through the early breakaway. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) completed the podium after winning the sprint from what remained of the bunch, just 21 seconds down on the leaders after five hours of racing.
Both Corkery and Townsend battled to the finish line, with Corkery 81st at 6:16 and former Irish road race champion Townsend placing 114th, at 10:49.
Jamie Meehan, last year's Irish U23 road race champion, was in action in the U23 Paris-Tours for his CC Etupes team. After 179km of racing he placed 54th in a group 1:59 down on winner Antoine L'Hote (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team).
Liam O'Brien was also in U23 action this weekend, for his Lidl Trek Future Racing team. He was racing the 176km Il Lombardia Under 23 (1.2U). The first-year U23 rider was 41st, in a group 4:41 down on winner Brieuc Rolland (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ).
Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) was in action today in Italy - 24 hours after riding Giro dell'Emilia (1.Pro). Today he lined out in the 167km Coppa Agostoni-Giro delle Brianze (1.1), with 3,000m of elevation gain.
It was won by Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) in a four-man final; Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) 2nd, Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) 3rd and Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) 4th. Dunbar was 64th at 9:02.
