O’Loughlin best of the Irish in junior road race

Germany's Jonas Bokeloh triumphed in the world junior road race championships in Ponferrada, Spain, earlier today, winning the 127.4 kilometres race in a sprint ahead of 31 other riders.

He outsprinted Alexandr Kulikovskiy (Russia) and Peter Lenderink (Netherlands) for the gold medal, netting the biggest result of his career.

The Irish squad had hoped for a strong result but things ultimately didn’t work out, with first year junior Michael O’Loughlin best of the five man squad in 44th place, one minute 33 seconds back.

Eddie Dunbar rode aggressively on the penultimate lap, going clear in a group, but was hauled back. He faded to finish 60th, 3 minutes 51 seconds down, while Stephen Shanahan was 92nd.

Daire Feeley lost out due to a puncture and was unable to rejoin the bunch afterwards. He was a non-finisher, as was Dylan O'Brien.

The world championships continue today with the elite women's road race. Ireland doesn't have an entrant in that, but Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan will compete in the elite men's road race tomorrow.

World road race championships, Ponferrada, Spain:

Junior men’s road race

1 Jonas Bokeloh (Germany) 127.4 kilometres in 3 hours 7 mins
2 Alexandr Kulikovskiy (Russia)
3 Peter Lenderink (Netherlands)
4 Edoardo Affini (Italy)
5 Magnus Bak Klaris (Denmark)
6 Izidor Penko (Slovenia) all same time

Selected others

44 Michael O'Loughlin (Ireland) at 1 min 33 secs
60 Eddie Dunbar (Ireland) at 3 mins 51 secs
92 Stephen Shanahan (Ireland) at 9 mins 56 secs
DNF: Dylan O'Brien (Ireland)
DNF: Daire Feeley (Ireland)