The Big Boss Man: Dan Martin is coming back from injury, but even if he is not firing on all cylinders, if the championship race is all out, he can do serious damage and come away with his second senior title. Seen here winning stage 9 of last year's Tour de France to Bagneres de Bigorre (Photo: Sirotti)
With the exception of Nicolas Roche, all of the country’s top riders will be in Mullingar tomorrow, Sunday, for what promises to be an enthralling battle to crown the men’s elite and U23 road race champions for 2014.
The course is suited to man of the moment Sam Bennett; fast but undulating. And the 171km distance will not be out of synch with much of the racing he has done this year.
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Very few in the field could say the same thing.
Already this season he has taken a string of wins; the Clasica de Almeria (1.1), a stage of the 2.HC Bayern Rundfahrt, the 1.HC ranked Rund um Koln in Germany and put in very strong performances in the semi-Classics Scheldprijs (5th) and Gent Wevelgem (12th).
He has most recently tasted victory in Belgium in the past week in a pro kermesse and has also scored a host of other top results in races such as the Tour of Oman and Tour Qatar.
The Carrick on Suir man has won the U23 race twice - 2010 and 2011 - and would dearly love to add the elite title to that tally.
Given the constant up and down nature of the course with a climb each lap; it’s unlikely there will be a big bunch coming to the line. And if Bennett is there in the front group, it will take a good man to beat him.
But Dan Martin is one such man, and though best known for his punch on the climbs he is also a very good sprinter.
He has done very little intensity since he broke his collar bone on the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in early May.
Sam Bennett is on the up and up and would be a great champion, though the lack of team mates may hamper him tomorrow.
Martin is back training hard again, but is nowhere near his best. But he is so gifted he simply does not have to be at his best to be champion tomorrow.
He won the title in Cork back in 2008 and has said in recent weeks he’d love to win it again this time out and then go on to win the World Championships in Spain in September.
Three others who will be there or thereabouts are Matt Brammeier, chasing an unprecedented fifth title in a row, and his Synergy Baku team mates Connor McConvey and Philip Lavery.
Brammeier and McConvey rode the Tour of Slovenia recently and finished well down overall. But if they’ve recovered from that effort and work together, along with Lavery, they will be a formidable combination.
Brammeier has a winning habit here, as his amazing run testifies. And if he is there at the finish he may very well make it five in a row.
Lavery was third in Clonmel two years ago and second in Carlingford last year. While he is now combining working with racing, he will have prepared to the maximum for tomorrow’s race.
Indeed, because his race programme has been lighter than his team mates he may well be the best prepared of the trio and one of the best prepared in the race.
Peter Hawkins has shown the past couple of seasons he is among the best on the UK circuit. Can he get into the mix in the finale at these championships?
The Dubliner is hugely aggressive and this year’s circuit is a parcours that suits him.
Strange as it may sound for a rider who has done so well at these championships in recent years, he is coming in under the radar. But do not be fooled by that. He can undoubtedly be champion if his race is incident-free and the team sings from the same hymn sheet.
Philip Deignan (Team Sky) and Martyn Irvine (United HealthCare) are two more who’ll be in the mix.
Deignan crashed and promptly abandoned last year in his comeback season after a quiet spell.
He has simply gotten better and better since then, with his move to Team Sky working a treat despite breaking his collarbone early in the season.
While Bennett has won five races and Martin has hit the podium in a monument, Deignan has the best recent results of anyone in the field.
While he is a mountain goat for whom tomorrow’s course is not exactly heaven sent, he is simply motoring and comes to this after another great showing in the Tour de Suisse to follow up on a fantastic ride in the Giro’s big mountains.
Interestingly, his only national medal is a bronze from 2004 in the U23 race when Nicolas Roche beat him in Sligo.
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Deignan goes down in Carlingford last year, with Lavery just behind. Both have had completely different seasons to date but either could win tomorrow (Photo: Simon Devlin)
The lack of any big climbs will count against him tomorrow, but he and Martin are riding at a level above the others and that should come into play somewhere along the way on a course that is far from flat.
Irvine has won one U23 silver medal (2007), three elite TT silver (2009, 2010 and 2012) and the bronze on Thursday, two U23 TT bronze (2005 and 2007), two criterium gold (2010 and 2011) as well as a silver (2013) and bronze (2009) in that discipline, not to mind a clutch of track titles.
However, the one glaring omission is an elite medal in the road race of any colour.
Since winning silver at the World Track Championships earlier this year, he has been earning his corn on the US criterium circuit and tomorrow’s race will be very different to those efforts.
But he will be hard to drop and with his strength he is an each way bet to win in a solo move from a select group.
Sean Downey of An Post-Chainreaction enjoyed a very good Rás and a good long hard race will suit his characteristics. He is a rider who appears to be on a new level this year and is due a big win.
Like Downey, Madison Genesis rider Peter Hawkins is also capable of getting among the action in the finale after over four hours in the saddle and could take a medal away from Westmeath.
Matt Brammeier is going for five elite titles in a row and has already won the red jersey for best climber at the Tour de Langkawi this year.
Of the home challenge, Damien Shaw and Bryan McCrystal are two names that present themselves immediately.
The Aquablue men will be stepping up a notch when going head to head against the calibre of rider that will be assembled tomorrow.
But Shaw was third last year and both are well capable of medalling tomorrow, as is Rás Mumhan winner Mark Dowling of DID Dunboyne.
Another worth a mention is Fraser Duncan of Northern CC who is having the season of his life and is as tough as they came.
Similarly, Banbridge CC’s machine Roger Aiken is well capable of making an impression, as is Cathal Moynihan of Tralee BC, Paidi O’Brien (Osbourne-The Edge), Paddy Clarke and Chris Reilly (both Liquidworx-Fitscience), Eoin Morton and Colm Cassidy (both UCD CC), Liam Dolan (Cuchulainn CC) and Omagh’s Marc Potts.
Bryan McCrystal and Damien Shaw are just two of the home riders well capable of making their presence felt tomorrow (Photo: Marian Lamb – Cycling Ulster)
The U23 race will be no less thrilling with the big dilemma being whether they ‘go with the pros’ or wait for the second wave of attacks after the main men escape.
Getting away in the move that will decide the elite race is something Conor Dunne of An Post said he’s aiming for.
But Newry’s Cormac Clarke didn’t make that selection last year and was fresher coming to the line and pipped Dunne for second.
Jack Wilson is the reigning champion and will be a hard nut to crack, especially since his non selection for the Commonwealth Games when many expected he would make the cut.
He can expect a huge challenge tomorrow from the likes of Dylan Foley (Aquablue), Eoin McCarthy and Conor McIlwaine (Terra Footwear Safety Shoes), Sean Hahessy (Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers), Sean McKenna (UCD CC) and Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne).
Ryan Mullen, Wilson’s teammate, is in ominous form also and is capable of anything. So An Post will have the strength in depth and a number of cards to play.
Felix English (Rapha Condor-JLT) is over his broken wrist and looks to be really firing again. Stephen Clancy (Novo Nordisk) has had such high-quality racing for the last 16 months he should definitely push for a medal.
Jack Wilson takes the U23 crown from Cormac Clarke and Conor Dunne last year; all are back again and can impose themselves once more (Photo: Toby Watson)
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