Dunbar Stars At Under 23 Euro Road Championships

All four Irish competitors finished in the top half of the field in the Men's Under 23 Road Race on a day when Cork's Eddie Dunbar proved to be one of the strongest riders.

Dunbar was in two significant breakaway moves, spending several laps out front and the first year senior still had the strength to sprint to the finish in the large group fighting it out for the medals after 161.2km.

Dunbar finished 26th behind Slovakia's Erik Baska in the 45-rider charge for the line while Ryan Mullen was also safely in the main group in 39th position.

Daniel Stewart finished two minutes down in 57th place, the Antrim rider having been with the leaders until the final climb of Vanehuise inside the final ten kilometres.

Seلn McKenna was 79th over the line, 7m11s behind the leaders after spending all but the final lap with the leaders.

No breakaway move had established itself before Dunbar struck out for glory with 102km remaining.

The NFTO registered rider quickly joined up with Wojciech Sykala of Poland and the duo spent more than a lap out front gaining a maximum of 40s on the main field.

Despite being joined by Affini of Italy and Kurianov of Russia, they were swept up by the main group with seven laps remaining.

Dunbar recovered in the bunch for several laps before going for glory again with 50km left.

Stosz of Poland, De Plus (Belgium) and Schlegel (Czech Republic) joined up with Dunbar and they soon overhauled, and then left behind, solo leader Erik Turek (Cze).

The lead quartet then built a maximum of just over half a minute lead on the main group in a move that lasted for 30km.

They were finally overhauled inside the final 20km but, unlike most of his breakaway companions, Dunbar still had enough strength in hand to stay with the leaders all the way to the finish line.

Mullen, who finished fourth in last Thursday's Under 23 Time Trial, was safely nestled in the bunch as the kilometres dwindled away and the two were part of the charging mass sprinting for medals at the end of the 13th lap.

Dunbar prepared to bring Mullen through the bunch in the final kilometre but Mullen's seat post broke, preventing him from contesting the sprint.

The final day of racing began with the men's Junior Road Race over 10 laps of the 12.4km circuit.

All three Irish riders finished in the main bunch less than 20 seconds behind the race winner Alan Banaszek of Poland who led in a four-man break.

Darragh O'Mahony was classified 63rd with Simon Tuomey 68th and Michael O'Loughlin 73rd at the back of a peloton which just failed to get back on terms with the breakaway riders.

All three Irish stayed with the peloton as it halved in size from the initial 154 starters throughout the 124.4km

The race was the usual championship race of attrition with the Irish trio remaining attentive and avoiding the usual crashes and punctures.

O'Mahony and Tuomey stayed closer to the front as O'Loughlin played a watching brief before going to the front of the group on one of the testing 10% hills with three laps to go.

The Tipperary rider tried to force his way into a counterattack but just missed out and watched the tactics play out from the safety of the bunch from then on.

Afterwards team coach Frank O'Leary paid tribute to the efforts of all seven Irish riders in action on the final day.

"The plan from the outset for the U23 was to get into a good break with the right combination of riders and it was Eddie that made it into the significant move.

"They worked very well together as a team helping each other to keep well up in the bunch and after Eddie was caught he tried to bring Ryan to the front but with Ryan's seat post snapping in the last kilometre a higher placing wasn't possible.

"The standard of Irish juniors has improved year on year and now they are able to match the cream of European talent. They were very strong today and rode well ," added O'Leary.

For full results see the event website: http://www.roadec2015.ee/

Irish Team for 2015 European Road Championships, Tartu, Estonia

Women's Junior
Ciara Doogan - Time Trial and Road Race

Men's U23
Ryan Mullen - Time Trial and Road Race
Eddie Dunbar - Time Trial and Road Race
Daniel Stewart - Road Race
Seلn McKenna - Road Race
Men's Junior
Darragh O'Mahoney - Road Race
Michael O'Loughlin - Time Trial and Road Race
Simon Tuomey - Time Trial and Road Race