{"id":723610,"date":"2026-08-02T00:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723610\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T00:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:30:12","slug":"junior-james-armstrong-seizes-first-win-of-breakthrough-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723610\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior James Armstrong seizes first win of breakthrough season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-209063\" width=\"auto\" height=\"716\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 2048\/1333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785630610_621_junior-james-armstrong-seizes-first-win-of-breakthrough-season.jpg\"   fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p> James Armstrong has had a fantastic season and now the teenager has secured his first win of the campaign (Photo: Toby Watson)<\/p>\n<p>James Armstrong (U19 Academy R\u00e9gion Sud powered by Giant) has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2026 as a second-year junior, including being selected onto the national team at domestic and international races, and now he has a first win of the year.<\/p>\n<p>The 18-year-old has raced so strongly through the campaign, and has a series of silver medals in championship racing, including the junior TT and road race at the Nationals in June and also the Ulster Criterium Championships.<\/p>\n<p>But at the Mountnugent GP in Co Cavan this evening, Saturday, he pulled clear in a small breakaway group and had too much for his rivals in the final sprint to the line.<\/p>\n<p>Raced over 11 laps of a 4.5km circuit, making for Belgian-style kermesse racing in Mountnugent, Armstrong raced into the final with just two other riders for company.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stickybottle.com\/races-results\/griffins-double-crash-tour-de-france-day-i-ended-up-in-a-bit-of-shit-209066\" aria-label=\"Griffin\u2019s double crash Tour de France day | &quot;I ended up in a bit of shit&quot;\" class=\"block flex-shrink-0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/griffin-rsquo-s-double-crash-tour-de-france-day-quot-i-ended-up-in-a-bit-of-shit-quot.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full w-full h-auto !my-0\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" alt=\"Griffin\u2019s double crash Tour de France day | \" i=\"\" ended=\"\" up=\"\" in=\"\" a=\"\" bit=\"\" of=\"\" shit=\"\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stickybottle.com\/races-results\/mangans-tour-de-france-it-was-very-much-about-what-you-had-left-209051\" aria-label=\"Mangan&#039;s Tour de France | &quot;It was very much about what you had left&quot;\" class=\"block flex-shrink-0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785630612_644_mangan-039-s-tour-de-france-quot-it-was-very-much-about-what-you-had-left-quot.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full w-full h-auto !my-0\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" alt=\"Mangan's Tour de France | &quot;It was very much about what you had left&quot;\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last year&#8217;s Junior Tour of Ireland winner, Matthew Walls (APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery) was with him, along with strongly local club rider, Mickey Flaherty (Moynalty Cycling Club).<\/p>\n<p>It was Armstrong with led the way, from Walls, with Flaherty right behind them, rounding out the podium on the night.<\/p>\n<p>Sat, Aug 1st | Mountnugent Grand Prix<\/p>\n<p>Mountnugent, Co Cavan<\/p>\n<p>Promoted by Navan Road Club<\/p>\n<p>James Armstrong U19 Academy R\u00e9gion Sud powered by Giant<br \/>\nMatthew Walls APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery<br \/>\nMickey Flaherty Moynalty Cycling Club<\/p>\n<p>More to come<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Armstrong has had a fantastic season and now the teenager has secured his first win of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-723610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}