Irish junior TT and cyclocross champion, Conor Murphy, is hoping to get his road race season off to a strong start in Spain in coming weeks, but likely has some unfinished business to attend to in cyclocross before getting going on the tarmac.
Murphy will compete with U19 Academy Région Sud powered by Giant again this year, having taken a big win for the French team last season at Eroica Juniores-Coppa Andrea Meneghelli (1.1) in Italy.
And given his first race of the season is well suited to his qualities, Murphy told stickybottle he was hopeful he could get the road season underway on a positive note.
He will Gran Premio San Vicente Costa Blanca, a 7.8km TT on March 1st followed by the Gran Premio San Vicente 133km road race, with 2,265m of climbing, the following day.
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Murphy has already proven himself against the watch - the Irish title secured last year when he was also 10th in the TT at the Worlds - and he will be out to impress again in the Costa Blanca TT on the first day of his season.
"That first road (event), being a TT and then a road race, could be a nice start to the season," he said. "I'm also hoping for Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.1) and Grand Prix Bob Jungels (1.1) and a few UCI stage races.
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"I'm in sixth year now, so I'm trying just not to compromise the training. I need to get the Leaving Cert done so it's worth it in the end, to have the results in the bag."
Murphy should be selected to represent Ireland at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in France in two weeks. He can have plenty of confidence going into that race after winning his third national junior title in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, last weekend despite being mainly focused on his road training.
"On the first lap I had two crashes, so it wasn't ideal, but I just settled into it. It was a tough course technically," he said of the national title race, for the second time, ahead of Curtis McKee (Spellman Dublin Port) and Ryan Daly (Scott Racing IRL).
"It was hard to get around (the course) but I was pretty happy with my performance. I just kept it calm and kept the gap, so I was happy with it.
"I've been doing a good bit on the road and I had a big crash in Diegem so the body hasn't been in the best shape," he said of crashing at Superprestige Diegem in Belgium on December 30th.
"I went over the bars at the start and I have a bit of a sore knee, so I was happy to still win (the nationals)," he said. Murphy added he was hoping to ride the Worlds followed by a team training camp in Spain next month in the final push towards the road season.
