Irish cyclists lose time following Giro d’Italia crash

Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar and Ben Healy lost time on stage two of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, both riders being caught out when a crash caused a split in the bunch close to the finish. The incident occurred with about 3.8 kilometres to go, with several riders falling on the right hand side of the speeding peloton and causing a logjam.

Frustratingly for those who were delayed, the crash occurred approximately 800 metres away from the point where, under cycling’s rules, all riders would have been assigned the same time as the stage winner. Italian rider Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) was first to the finish line in San Salvo, winning a 44 man bunch sprint. Dunbar and Healy were 54th and 87th respectively, crossing the line 19 seconds back.

Stage one winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) avoided the problem and retained the race leader’s pink jersey. Dunbar slipped two places to 26th overall, while Healy improved three places to 46th.

The race continues on Monday with a 213 kilometre stage to Melfi.

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In Belgium, Ireland’s paracycling tandem riders had another superb performance at the World Cup in Ostend, taking silver and bronze medals in the women’s road race. The 76.6 kilometre event came down to a sprint between three leading bikes, with the British pairing of Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl taking gold ahead of Josephine Healion and Eve McCrystal, plus Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly.

Those riders were streets ahead of the rest of the field, with the next chasers almost three minutes back.

“It was a great day today for both Irish pairings to be up the road and come home with the silver and bronze,” said McCrystal.

The medals secured on Sunday follow the gold medal secured in Friday’s time trial by Dunlevy and Kelly. Healion and McCrystal were fourth in that event.

Several other Irish riders were also in action. Of those, Ronan Grimes was sixth in the men’s C4 race, with Richael Timothy taking the same placing in the women’s C3 road race.

Meanwhile, Lara Gillespie made her debut with the UAE Team ADQ squad on Sunday, gaining a guest slot on the WorldTour team following her superb second place in Saturday’s GP Eco-Struct. Gillespie normally competes with the squad’s development team but stepped up for the Trofee Maarten Wynants, helping the more senior riders.

The day was a success for the squad, the 1.1-ranked race being won by team-mate Chiara Consonni. Gillespie was part of that big team effort and raced in 27th.

In Spain, Fiona Mangan showed she was gaining strength as the La Vuelta Femenina progressed, recording her highest placing of the race on the final stage. She finished 75th at the uphill finish of Lagos de Covadonga, and ended up 99th overall. The stage was won by Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx), who did what she could to overturn the race lead of Annemiek van Vleuten but ended up nine seconds short.

Van Vleuten and her Movistar team caused controversy on Saturday, attacking when the-then race leader Vollering and several other riders stopped for a toilet break.

Elsewhere, Liam O’Brien had a fine performance in the junior Liège-Bastogne-Liége in Belgium on Saturday, racing in 12th. The Isorex Cycling Team rider was one minute behind the British winner Tomos Pattinson (Tofauti Everyone Active). O’Brien went on to take 29th in the GP Bob Jungels Juniors on Sunday, 11 seconds behind the winner Dutch winner Karst Hayma. Curtis Neill (VC La Pomme Marseilles U19) also took part in the latter contest, placing 50th.

At home, Conn McDunphy’s recent strong form in US racing saw the Lucan CRC rider return to Ireland and win the Shay Elliott Memorial in Wicklow. Gareth O’Neill (Team PB Performance), Mark Dowling (All human-Velo Revolution) and Rás Tailteann champion Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution) were next home.

SHAY ELLIOTT CLASSIC, WICKLOW: 1 Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC), 2 G O’Neill (Team PB Performance), 3 M Dowling (All human-Velo Revolution), 4 D Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution), 5 L Doyle (ARBÖ head start ON-Fahrrad), 6 A Wade (Equipo Cortizo), 7 J Buller (PB Performance), 8 J Kenny (UCD Cycling Club), 9 O Doogan (Caldwell Cycles), 10 L Crowley (UCD Cycling Club)

Unplaced A2: 1 Joseph Mullen (Navan Road Club), 2 C Prendergast (Galway Bay CC), 3 G Hendley (Lucan CRC)

Sprint Prime: JB Murphy (Kilcullen Cycling Club)

Climbers Prime: Luke Smith (Moynalty CC)

Leading Bray Wheeler: Stuart Carrick (Bray Wheelers)

A3 Ken Duff Memorial: 1 Killian O’Brien (Orwell Wheelers), 2 T Killeen (Kilcullen Cycling Club), 3 C Tutty (Dungarvan Cycling Club)