Ireland got off to a successful start on the opening day of the European Road Cycling Championships in France, claiming two medals in Wednesday’s time trial events.
Two-time national junior time trial champion Conor Murphy was second in the junior men’s event in Drôme Ardéche, finishing the 24km course in 30:54.25 to finish 4.6 seconds behind Michiel Mouris of the Netherlands.
Last week, the Dutch 18-year-old won gold in the event at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.
Murphy led the field at the first two intermediate points, dropping time to Mouris in the latter half of route.
READ MORE
Bronze went to Denmark’s Julius Løvstrup Birkedal, while Murphy’s team-mates David Gaffney and Matthew Wallis were 11th and 22nd respectively.
In the men’s under-23 time trial, Adam Rafferty earned bronze after clocking 30:34.01 over the 24km, while Seth Dunwoody was 16th in 31:49.50.
Rafferty, the reigning under-23 national time trial champion, was 6 seconds off Belgium’s Jonathan Vervenne in first, his compatriot Matisse van Kerckhove taking silver.
Aliyah Rafferty, younger sister of Adam, was 22nd in the junior women’s time trial, and Lucy Benezét Minns finished 25th in the under-23 women’s event.
