Top-10 finishes for Irish quartet at UCI Road World Championships

Irish riders have secured a series of top-10 finishes at the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich.

First up was the men's junior individual time-trial with Seth Dunwoody and Conor Murphy both performing well.

The in-form Dunwoody secured a fifth-placed finish with a time of 28:32.37, just 24 seconds off race winner, France’s Paul Seixas.

Murphy also clocked a fine time of 28.50.37 to finish tenth out of the 66 competitors competing on the 24.9km route.

"So today’s time trial was my main goal of the season," Dunwoody told Cycling Ireland afterwards.

"It’s a time trial that has been on the forefront of my mind for this past six, seven months due to how well the course suited me as well as my passion and love for the discipline.

"I managed to squeeze everything out of my legs today. Although not as much as I had expected but I can still be proud of this result. It’s my first major time trial championship and I hope to be at many more up fighting for medals."

In the afternoon, brothers Darren and Adam Rafferty competed in the men’s under-23 individual time-trial.

With 70 competitors in action, Darren Rafferty’s sixth-placed finish was highly impressive with a time of 37:44.21 on the 29.9km route. Younger brother Adam, aged just 18, finished tenth in a time of 38:00.37.

It’s a busy week for the Rafferty family with their sister Aliyah set to race in the women’s junior individual time-trial on Tuesday alongside Lucy Bénézet Minns.

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