IRELAND’S LUCY Bénézet Minns earned a top-10 finish at UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships in Zurich today.

Competing in wet and windy conditions, Bénézet Minns came 10th in the Junior Women’s Road Race.

It continues an encouraging few days for the 18-year-old following a 13th-place finish in the Women’s Junior Time Trial earlier this week.

Fellow Irish athletes Aliyah Rafferty and Aine Doherty were also among the 120 competitors, coming 38th and 79th respectively.

Great Britain’s Cat Ferguson triumphed on the 73.6km circuit, having prevailed in the Women’s Junior Time Trial on Tuesday.

“It was a hard race,” Bénézet Minns said. “I wasn’t too well positioned coming into the first climb but then there was a big crash, so I think it actually worked out alright. I was just kind of on the back foot, between the first two climbs I was just chasing and I got back to the front group just at the bottom of the second climb.”

The teenager can now turn her attention to the UCI World Track Championships next month, which will be her debut at Senior Championship level.

The weather conditions were similarly perilous for 163 riders in the Junior Men’s Road Race later in the day.

Seth Dunwoody was the standout Irish performer in 26th, while David Gaffney was in 45th place and Cal Tutty came 66th.

Patrick Casey did not finish, which was the case for almost half the field.

“The race was chaos and very sketchy,” Dunwoody said. “My legs eventually started to get better on the last lap. But, by that time, my position on the road was too far behind to be in the thick of it. Happy with performance and the team in the treacherous conditions.”

The Irish quartet of Dean Harvey, Jamie Meehan, Liam O’Brien and Darren Rafferty will compete in the Men’s U23 Road Race tomorrow.