Cycling wrap: Eddie Dunbar finishes 18th on opening stage of Tour of Alps

Taking part in his first race since winning the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in March, Eddie Dunbar showed excellent form on the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps on Monday. The Ineos Grenadiers rider was part of a greatly-reduced main bunch towards the end of the hilly stage to Primiero/San Martino di Castrozza, and played a prominent part in the finale. Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r Citroen Team) was the sole survivor of the day’s early breakaway and had a 42 second lead with three kilometres remaining.

Dunbar began chasing hard behind, driving the pace in pursuit. He remaining at the head of the bunch for approximately one kilometre and hacked down the lead to 28 seconds. The road flattened out and Bouchard held on by just five seconds, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Romain Bardet (Team DSM) leading the chase home five seconds later.

Dunbar rolled in as part of his group, placing 18th, and looks set to be part of a determined team effort over the coming four days.

Elsewhere in Italy, Archie Ryan (Jumbo-Visma Development Team) was in action in the under-23 Giro del Belvedere race. Frenchman Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ Conti) took a strong solo win. Ryan finished 41st in what was his first race since recovering from Covid-19. Ronan O’Connor (Team Colpack Ballan) was 95th.

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Closer to home, Lindsay Watson sealed final overall victory in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan. The stage one winner finished safely in the 73-rider main bunch at the end of stage four, a 96 kilometre leg starting and finishing in Knocknagoshel, and maintained the same two second advantage he had established over Darragh McCarter (Spellman Dublin Port) at the end of the opening day. Monte Guerini (Foran Cycling Club) finished third overall, eight seconds back.

Odhran Doogan (Velo Revolution) was quickest in the sprint to the line on Monday, beating Sunday’s stage winner Niall McLoughlin (Cycling Ireland Junior Team), Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) and the rest of the bunch.

McLoughlin’s placings of second, first and second on Saturday, Sunday and Monday saw him take the points classification. Harvey beat Watson to win the King of the Mountains competition.

Elsewhere, Conor Verbruggen (Bray Wheelers) swooped to win the Gorey Three Day, overhauling Fergus Keogh (Moynalty Cycling Club) on the final stage. He and Loughlin Campion (Leinster Senior Team) had started the last day level on time with Keogh, but Verbruggen got clear with Ewan Warren (Unattached Munster) in a breakaway move which held off the chase of those behind.

Warren took the stage ahead of Verbruggen. The bunch was led hone by Eoghan Cooke (Spellman-Dublin Port) three seconds later, given Verbruggen the advantage he needed to net the final general classification win. Campion and Keogh were second and third.

Gabriele Glodenyte (Unattached Leinster) finished over two minutes clear of Linda Kelly (Spin the Bean Power by Coffee) and Darcey Harkness (VC Glendale) in the women’s standings. Warren was best of the A3 riders and best climber, while Oisin Ferrity (Island Wheelers) was best of the juniors. Kelly won the Queen of the Mountains title.

Finally, Irish riders were in action over the weekend in the International Track Meeting Belgium. On Friday Orla Walsh finished a fine fifth overall out of 21 entrants in the women’s sprint.

On Saturday Emily Kay was seventh in the women’s omnium, with Mia Griffin 13th and Alice Sharpe 15th. Griffin was the sole Irish competitor in the women’s scratch and points races on Sunday, netting fifth and eighth respectively.

Jack Murphy was sixth overall in the Omnium on Sunday. He was also 13th

in the elimination race on Saturday.

Tour of the Alps

Stage 1, Cles to Primiero/San Martino di Castrozza: 1 Geoffrey Bouchard

(Ag2r Citroen Team) 159 kilometres in 4 hours 12’22”, 2 P Bilbao

(Bahrain Victorious) 5”, 3 R Bardet (Team DSM), 4 V Albanese

(Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team), 5 F Gall (Ag2r Citroen Team) all same time

Irish: 18 E Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) same time

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan. Stage 4: Knocknagoshel – Knocknagoshel: 1 Odhran

Doogan (Velo Revolution) 96 kilometres in 1 hour 51’42”, 2 N McLoughlin

(Cycling Ireland Junior Team), 3 D Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port), 4 C

Murnane (UCD Cycling Club), 5 J Parish (TAAP Cervélo)

Final overall classification: 1 Lindsay Watson (Velo Revolution) 9 hours

11’, 2 D McCarter (Spellman Dublin Port) 2”, 3 M Guerini (Foran Cycling

Club) 8”, 4 D Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) 16”, 5 L Smith (Moynalty

Cycling Club) 17”, 6 C Hennebry (Team Dan Morrisey/Pactimo), 7 A Maguire

(Pinergy Orwell Wheelers), 8 C Halvey (Newcastlewest Cycling Club) all

same time

Points classification: 1 Niall McLoughlin (Cycling Ireland Junior Team)

39 points, 2 C Murnane (UCD Cycling Club) 35, 3 O Doogan (Velo

Revolution) 25

King of the Mountains: 1 Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) 60, 2 L

Watson (Velo Revolution) 52, 3 L Smith (Moynalty Cycling Club) 43

Gorey Three Day, stage three, Gorey to Gorey: 1 Ewan Warren (Unattached

Munster) 2 hours 13’03”, 2 C Verbruggen (Bray Wheelers), 3 E Cooke

(Spellman-Dublin Port) 3”, 4 S Coll (Drogheda Wheelers), 5 L Campion

(Leinster Senior Team), 6 J Delaney (Leinster Development Team), 7 J

Howick (Bray Wheelers), 8 O Ferrity (Island Wheelers) all same time

Final general classification: 1 Conor Verbruggen (Bray Wheelers) 6 hours

48’39”, 2 L Campion (Leinster Senior Team) 3”, 3 F Keogh (Moynalty

Cycling Club), 4 A Ryan (Leinster Senior Team) 26”, 5 M Mizgajski (Spin

the Bean Power by Coffee), 6 E Warren (Unattached Munster) 27”, 7 O

Ferrity (Island Wheelers) 30”

8 A Klus (Stamullen RC)

Women: 1 Gabriele Glodenyte (Unattached Leinster) 6 hours 49'46", 2 L

Kelly (Spin the Bean Power by Coffee) 2’14”, 3 D Harkness (VC Glendale),

4 E Grace Creighton (McConvey Cycles) 26’08”, 5 A O’Brien

(Torelli-Accure-Cayman Islands-Scimitar) 26’38”

A3 riders: 1 Ewan Warren (Unattached Munster) 6 hours 49'06", 2 A Grehan

(Lucan Cycling Road Club) 2’54”, 3 C Meegan (Drogheda Wheelers)

Juniors: 1 Oisin Ferrity (Island Wheelers) 6 hours 49'09", 2 D Doherty

(VC Glendale), 3 T McNally (Leinster Development Team) 31”

King of the Mountains classification: 1 Ewan Warren (Unattached Munster)

48 points, 2 L Campion (Leinster Senior Team) 25, 3 A Connell (Dungarvan

CC) 11

Queen of the Mountains classification: 1 Linda Kelly (Spin the Bean

Power by Coffee) 51, 2 D Hendriks (TC Racing) 25, 3 G Glodenyte

(Unattached Leinster) 18