Philip Lavery (above, in yellow) has taken a string of wins in France this year and will be absolutely gunning to win the National Road Race Championships tomorrow.
By Brian Canty
Matt Brammeier will start tomorrow’s Men’s National Road Race Championships knowing that a win will put him out on his own as the Irish rider with the most elite road race titles.
The ‘Champion System’ man is seeking his fourth crown in as many years and he’ll surpass Davy O’Loughlin and David McCann, who currently have three each, as the most successful ever if he is victorious.
The latter rides tomorrow and after taking silver in the TT championships on Thursday on the back of little or no racing this year, he will most definitely play a big part tomorrow and a medal, or even another win, is not beyond him.
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Meanwhile, Brammeier is a rider of WorldTour class and has proven that every time he comes to Ireland for the nationals.
Each of his wins has been as impressive as the next, having beaten Nicolas Roche into second twice - 2010 & 2012 - and Dan Martin in 2011.
This year, that will change however, because neither of those two is racing on account of the Tour de France starting next weekend in Corsica, which will necessitate a little more travel than normal.
Ireland’s track world champion, Martyn Irvine also misses out following his crash in the Tour of Taiwan in March.
Irvine and Roche were both in the breakaway with Brammeier in Clonmel last year – with Philip Lavery the other to make the day’s key selection and the latter will fancy his chances tomorrow of improving on the bronze he picked up then.
The course is not as hard as last year, which won’t be to Brammeier’s liking as most riders will be able to hang on for longer than they did in 2012. And it won’t come as any surprise if several county riders make an impact on the race.
That said, at 172 kilometres and 13 laps, not many will still have the firepower when the jumping starts in the latter stages.
There, the big guns will have a huge advantage and racing consistently over 100 miles is going to be key.
Outside of Brammeier, Lavery is going to be in the shake-up as will Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthCare) and the An Post quartet of Jack Wilson, Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin and Sean Downey.
Bennett showed his class in last month’s An Post Rás by bagging two stages wins and teeing up Shane Archbold for another. But he was laid low afterwards following a nasty crash in the prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne stage-race in France and a bout of food poisoning.
The Carrick-on-Suir native is nothing if not resilient, though, and on his day is the fastest out-and-out sprinter in the country.
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He has trained this week and raced on Wednesday night. But it remains to be seen if he has any niggles from that spill in France.
If he makes the selection and gets within sight of the line, he’ll be hard to beat and in that regard his teammates could have a key part to play.
McLaughlin and Downey will take their own chances should they come, with the latter in particularly good form after riding an excellent Rás last month. The Banbridge man has made a step up this year in his second season with the team and is maturing into an excellent professional.
Both riders are definitely good enough to take the title tomorrow if the cards fell their way a little.
Aaron Buggle (Rapha Condor-JLT) has recovered from his horror crash at the An Post Rás and has just returned from another stage-race in Korea where he helped teammate Mike Cuming win the overall.
The Meath man is another tough operator and was one of the most active in the bunch during the opening stages of the Rás. He’ll have no problems with the speed or distance tomorrow and has shown a good knack for making a winning escape.
Of the home-based riders, Paidi O’Brien is in superb form after a stint in Belgium last week with his Planet Tri teammate Barry Meade. Both have a stack of national titles between them and will be dangerous this weekend.
O’Brien has the better finishing kick, but Meade isn’t short of class either and could make the top 10, if he doesn’t sacrifice himself for O’Brien.
The pocket rocket from Banteer is a two-time U23 National Champion. While he has been runner-up twice and third twice in the elite, it’s unlikely he’ll make the top step this time, but it’s not impossible.
Ryan Mullen (IG Sigma-Sport) will be the favourite to win the U23 title with Jack Wilson one of the other outstanding favourites; both are former National Junior Champions.
Mullen is capable of mixing it with the more seasoned riders and is comfortable in the bunch; his experience of riding the Tour Series is obviously going to stand to him in that regard and his win in the U23 TT on Thursday night shows he is absolutely motoring at the moment.
Rás stage winner and yellow jersey wearer, Conor Dunne won silver in the U23 TT on Thursday and he will certainly challenge tomorrow. His stage win in the Rás was very impressive and he could win tomorrow if he had a bit of luck.
Charlie Prendergast (Polygon Sweet Nice) and Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne) have also been going well at home and should be in the thick of the action, with Nulty in particular capable of surprising a few of the bigger names.
Conor McIlwaine (Errigal CC) and Eoin McCarthy (Terra Footwear), as well as Cormac Clarke (Newry Wheelers) have all rode Nations Cups this year and are strong and experienced, while Stephen Clancy (Team Novo Nordisk) could surprise them all.
It promises to be a fabulous day’s racing.
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