After placing two riders in the top 10 on the opening uphill TT at Tour de l'Avenir yesterday, the Irish team was in the mix again today and figting for the victory on the opening road stage; some 188.6km from Aoste to Saint-Galmier.
Seth Dunwoody was the man for Team Ireland today - following the example of Adam Rafferty and Liam O'Brien yesterday - and took 7th in the bunch sprint that decided things.
The stage was won by Noah Hobbs (Great Britain) from Davide Donati (Italy) and Cesar Macias (Mexico) after Denmark's Carl-Frederik Bévort took a flier inside the final kilometre but was closed down.
Hobbs got a fantastic lead-out, with his final team mate dropping him off with about 200m to go, he finished the job superbly and was a clear winner. Dunwoody looked like he had to put in a significant effort to move himself to the front just before the sprint started, which would have cost him some power.
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El británico Noah Hobbs se lleva la victoria al sprint en la 1ª etapa en línea ?
Donati ???y Macías ???
Paul Seixas ?? sigue de líder en la general ?
? Losbrolin pic.twitter.com/NeH7n30Sqs
— Avituallamiento Ciclista (@EVTMO_) August 24, 2025
He then got involved in some minor shouldering with Mexico's Macias, and while that was nothing to write home about, it was another small incident that cost him a little. When the Irishman kicked, he did not have the poke needed to truly compete for the victory and faded a little, to 7th.
However, though he is a first-year U23, he has nothing to fear sprinting against any of the riders on this race and is as good as the best of them. He already has two victories this season, at Giro Next Gen in June and on a brutally hard final stage at Circuit des Ardennes (2.2) back in April.
With perhaps a little better positioning, and some luck in following the right wheel, he could strike for a stage victory before the week is out, with the next chance for the sprinters possibly come as early as tomorrow.
Adam Rafferty - 7th in the TT yesterday - placed 40th on the stage today and, crucially, on the right side of a seven-second gap that opened after 45 riders. And that has resulted in Rafferty moving up to 4th overall, just 12 seconds down on race leader, Paul Seixas (France).
Liam O'Brien and Irish U23 road race champion Jamie Meehan were both in the next group; the second half of the peloton, numbering 50 riders and at seven seconds. O'Brien was 50th and Meehan in 66th.
Ronan O'Connor was 104th at 1:15 while Dean Harvey placed 147th on the stage, at 19:21.
