Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) soloed to victory at the Elite Men’s Road Race at the Cycling Ireland National Championships in Co. Sligo today. Darnell Moore (Team Caldwell Cycles) took the silver medal ahead of Mark Downey (Team Wiggins) who won bronze.
The riders faced ten laps of a tough circuit around Collooney, totalling 170 kilometres. It was an aggressive race from early on and a strong group was established in the opening laps, which included Dunne, Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing), Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) and the Team Wiggins duo of Mark Downey and Michael O’Loughlin amongst others.
On the seventh lap a select group of four – Dunne, Moore, Jamie Blanchfield (Team Viner Carepack Pactimo) and Robert Jon McCarthy (JLT Condor) – pushed ahead establishing a significant lead over the next group on the road which included Roche, Downey and Eddie Dunbar (Aqua Blue Sport).
With two laps to go, Dunne and Moore drove on increasing the gap. The Aqua Blue Sport rider made his intention clear on the last lap, digging deep to establish a solo lead and went on to cross the line a minute clear of Moore to win his first national title.
In addition to taking silver, the young Team Caldwell Cycles rider picked up the U23 title, with Downey and defending champion Michael O’Loughlin (Team Wiggins) rounding off the podium.
“I’m super, super proud,” said an emotional Dunne after the race. “I can’t really believe it, it’s been an up and down year. This last month I was just fighting for form and getting better and better each week, so I kind of knew I had a good chance of pulling it off today. My legs felt good today, and I just had to be tactically aware.”
Last year Dunne came close to pulling off the win and was happy to finally top the podium after a tough season – “I had a lot of good people around me telling me not to give up, and to keep on working. This year I feel a bit stronger again. I was never going to let it slip again this year, I’m just chuffed.”
Speaking after his elite silver medal ride and National U23 title Moore said: “it was a hard day out, I was up the road really in every move today, I kept on making the moves – I won the U23 jersey today, so I’m happy with that.”
