Huge Óg Mulhearne, above, and Freddie Winkley battled all the way in the UCI World Road Championships on a day when many riders didn’t make it (Photo: SWPIX)
Some days you’re the hammer, and some days you’re the nail. And for the Irish men’s junior team at the UCI World Road Championships in Canada, it was a case of absorbing the pain rather than dishing it out.
However, that’s the way world title races go and our two finishers – Freddy Winkley and Huge Óg Mulhearne – left it all out on the road on Thursday.
The third member the Irish team, Junior Tour of Ireland winner, Rían McCrystal, endured a frustrating day.
McCrystal, a first-year junior from Co Louth, was hit by a mechanical problem very early in the race. And on such a hard course, amid such a rapid start to the event, getting back on was a mission impossible.
Though he rode as hard as he could, he never saw the bunch again. He was then among those riders taken out of the race when the commissaires would not let them continue on the circuit.
However, once the set-back hit, it was more or less out of McCrystal’s hands. And he has plenty of opportunities ahead to show what he can do in the green jersey.
In his absence, Winkley and Mulhearne impressively kept their place in the bunch as the 10 laps of the circuit ticked down. The 134km race unfolded on the hilly streets of Montreal, with almost 2,700m of elevation gain.
Rían McCrystal has enjoyed a great season but was very unlucky on debut at the Worlds (Photo: SWPIX)
However, it was clear from the post-race comments made by Winkley and Mulhearne – who have both been very impressive in Europe this year – that they simply were not at their best today.
“That was definitely a tough day out – a battle of survival all day,” said Mulhearne. “I felt like I just had one speed all day.
“On the longer climb I was quite happy with myself, then the problem on the two shorter, punchier climbs I couldn’t punch out over them. I was just dieseling all day.
“Look, it’s definitely not what I was hoping for this morning but there’s no point dwelling on it or making excuses, you just have to move forward.”
Winkley expressed much the same sentiments, suggesting he could never really get to grips with the race and on top of his effort.
“It was pretty tough, it was quite hard from the start. I was feeling okay but I couldn’t really get my positioning right,” he said of a world title race where the pace and the climbs made for a relentless day.
“I ended up yo-yoing off the back in the second half of the race, and with, like, two (laps) to go I just blew the lights.”
Freddie Winkley said he found it hard to get on top of his positioning and blew on the second last lap (Photo: SWPIX)
In the end, from 156 starters, there were just 84 finishers, scattered around the course by almost 18 minutes from first to last.
Winkley finished a very decent 46th, despite saying he found the race challenging, and was 6:04 down on the winner. Mulhearne was 70th at 11:42.
The race was won by Spain’s Benjamín Noval; the 17-year-old putting in a savage ride to add the road race world title in the TT crown he had already taken his week.
He took off from a five-man breakaway with two laps to go to win solo, having proven the rider the second half of the race revolved around. Though he as clearly with some very good riders at the front, he looked the strongest by a considerable margin.
Simon Defrance (France), who had been in the lead group the exploded over the final two laps, took silver at 40 seconds. Elias Wändel (Sweden), who was in a late chasing group that got up to compete for bronze, claimed that final medal at 2:12.
Tomorrow is a busy day for Team Ireland, with Emer Heverin in the junior women’s race. We also have a very strong Irish team in the U23 men’s road race, made up of Liam O’Brien, Adam Rafferty, David Gaffney and Seth Dunwoody.
Two races, two golds! 🥇🥇
Benjamin Noval collects his second victory in Montreal by winning the Men’s Junior road race 🌈 pic.twitter.com/GnbXderow9
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 24, 2026