Seth Dunwoody’s team orders were significant today, and the ability of the 19-year-old to execute them at this level was even more impressive (Photo: Jan De Meuleneir-Cor Vos)
Seth Dunwoody’s Bahrain Victorious team – the World Tour line-up – set an ambitious target for him today at Belgian classic Ename Samyn (1.1). And the 19-year-old rose to it, passing his first big challenge in pro racing and telling stickybottle he was delighted with how it had gone.
It was also significant his job was not to work for the team early in the race. Rather, he was assigned to play a part deep into the final. A classics-style rider, who is tipped to perhaps win these races, and bigger, in the years ahead, Dunwoody went some way to confirming that potential today with the manner of his riding.
After 203.8km of racing – over cobble sectors and short sharp climbs – he was in the lead group, at the front of it, helping to shield his team sprinter, Phil Bauhaus, and bringing him to the front. The German eventually finished 7th in the reduced bunch sprint, won by Jordi Meus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
Having been right at the front helping Bauhaus until the final 200m, Dunwoody was 19th. He was among just 48 riders left in the bunch, from a start list of 175. The next riders were 1:30 back, and last man across the line, of the 134 finishers, was over six minutes down.
Though he has now completed one stage race and three one-day events for the World Tour squad this year, Dunwoody is signed to its U23 devo team. The fact he is already being included in his World Tour team’s selections for these races is a breakthrough in itself.
But the team’s opinion that he should play a part in the final – specifically the final 2km – confirms they already see him as someone capable to influencing these finals. And that is big news.
“I was really happy with today, how it went,” Dunwoody told stickybottle. “The legs are getting better and better with every race. The team set a pretty high target for me today, to be there in the last 2k, after the last cobble sector.
“The goal was to be there around our sprinter and to do whatever I could. But to be there was quite an ask. They said before the start they wanted to give me a pretty hard target; something that’s attainable, but something to reach for.
“To be racing over cobbles with the likes of Van Aert and some big names was super nice. And to do something, and to finish in the top 20, was really nice. And hopefully that’s the start of a really good classics campaign.
“It’s great when you see the likes of Lara (Gillespie) winning the day before and everybody’s talking about doing an Irish double and stuff,” he laughed. “It’s a really nice time to be an Irish classics rider, to be honest. I’m looking forward to being at the pointy the end of these races in the years to come.”
Dunwoody’s sprinting potential has been clear for several years. When he went to Europe to race, at the very start of his first year as a junior, he was one of the fastest in the biggest races. He won two stages and the overall at Penn Ar Bed-Pays d’Iroise (2.1), just his second UCI stage race.
For a rider with those sprint powers, the big question is always whether they can transfer that into four and five hours of racing in the pro ranks. Not everyone can do it, indeed very few can. But Dunwoody has today, for the first time in his career, demonstrated he can be at the front in the closing stages in the fifth hour.
It appears he now just needs more of those races – lots of them, over a period – so that he will build his engine and be fresh enough at the finish to sprint at his best. But the stamina – that staying power for the fifth hour – seems to be there. And it’s there already, even though he’s completely new to racing for the World Tour team and has not yet turned 20-years-old.
IN. YOUR. FACE.
Jordi Meeus se hace con la victoria en Le Samyn y arruina la jornada a Visma tras dar caza a Per Strand Hagenes y el problema de Van Aert.
🚴♂️ Lo has visto en @Eurosport_ES y @StreamMaxES. #LeSamyn pic.twitter.com/d3OXITjekJ
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) March 3, 2026