Lucy Bénézet Minns was best placed of the seven Irish riders in action at cycling’s World Championships on Thursday, finishing a fine 10th in the junior women’s road race in Zürich.
She raced home as part of a group 1 minute 26 seconds behind a trio led home by British talent Cat Ferguson, who also won the time-trial on Tuesday. The race was run off in wet, slippery conditions.
Minns said she was out of position early on and used a lot of energy to get back to the front group.
“Then I was just cooked. It was really sketchy in the wet, the roads were just like an ice rink. I didn’t fall off this time, I’m pretty happy about that.”
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The tough conditions saw Aliyah Rafferty and Áine Doherty finish further back, placing 38th and 79th.
Seth Dunwoody was best finisher of the four Irish junior men, placing 26th behind the race winner Lorenzo Finn of Italy. The race was marked by many crashes including Albert Withen Philipsen (Denmark), who fell while in contention to defend his title.
Muriel Furrer (Switzerland) fell during the women’s event and was described by the UCI as being in a very critical condition due to a head injury.
The championships continue on Friday with the under-23 men’s race. Brothers Darren and Adam Rafferty compete after netting sixth and 10th in Monday’s time-trial. They will be joined by Dean Harvey, Liam O’Brien and Jamie Meehan.
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