Chris McGlinchey is the picture of focus on his way to winning yesterday. He will compete this year at a higher level but he's taking his own approach to it. He's continuing to work and says he didn't go crazy training over winter (Photo: Sharon McFarland)
Not a man to follow the conventional route in the Irish road racing scene, Chris McGlinchey is sticking to his own approach despite moving his cycling up a notch this year.
Having ridden as a club rider, in the colours of Chainreaction Cycles, since taking up road racing, he has now moved on to Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK.
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It’s a Continental team based in Britain. And that will mean more UCI-ranked racing for the 25-year-old Belfast man.
However, he has not given up the day job; opting to continue mixing work and racing this year.
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It is perhaps an unusual move, but McGlinchey has always opted to follow his own path; something that has worked very well so far.
He started out in downhill racing; becoming one of the best riders in the country and national champion in that discipline.
Chris McGlinchey in his downhill racing days – as national champion racing in 2011 – before switching to road
He swapped downhill, and the colours of Chainreaction Cycles Nukeproof Ireland, for the road scene in 2014.
McGlinchey was working for Chainreaction Cycles at the time and rode in its colours when he took up his place in the peloton.
Success came quickly and in a matter of weeks he went from A4 to A1, leading the Tour of the North in his first season on the road, and then getting into the Irish U23 team.
Since then he’s won a string of races; Kerry Group Rás Mumhan among them. Furthermore, he rode Rás Tailteann on the national team two years ago.
In 2017 he also claimed silver, behind Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo), in the elite event at the National Road Race Championships; a terrific performance.
Despite that success, last year he decided to take a break from working, for Chainreaction Cycles, and cycling and went traveling around the world.
However, any notion he’d departed the road scene for good was put to bed when he returned in the second half of last year.
He scored victory in the North Down GP not longer after coming back. And he followed that up with bronze in the National Hill Climb Championships.
The hammer was down in the chase group after the four riders who would win the day got clear (Photo: Toby Watson)
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Having proven himself in recent seasons, he’s now riding at Continental level, while continuing to work.
And yesterday he won the Annaclone GP from a breakaway; a great start to what may prove a big year.
He said while his first race on his new Vitus ZX-1 team bike was an experience, digging deep again after the winter break stung a little.
“The form feels good; the first race is always a bit of a shock to the system but I can't complain,” he said of winning at the first time of asking.
He added he hadn’t piled on lots of extra training over the winter despite the fact he'll compete abroad more in the months ahead.
“I'm still working full-time and my coach Bryan McKinney and I have managed to work on how to get me in good shape on a 10 to 12 hour week.
“We’re working the training around a busy life. And I’ll increase the volume a bit as the nights get brighter.”
McGlinchey gets the verdict just ahead of McLaughlin; job done in nasty enough conditions (Photo: SharonMcFarland)
While he has begun his 2019 campaign on the domestic scene, he is already looking ahead to bigger racing which he hopes to ride.
He said while his new team would first need to secure a place in Tour de Yorkshire before he could hope to ride it, he hoped the team will get the nod.
“Rutland-Melton International and Yorkshire would be some early season goals of mine if possible,” he said.
“But the line-ups for races won’t get selected until closer to the time. We have a super strong squad this year. So I just need to make sure the legs are good when it comes to team selection.”
Yesterday he pulled clear in a very strong breakaway that was chased hard all the way, though it survived and Chris McGlinchey triumphed.
The Banbridge CC promotion was a handicapped affair, with the A3s given five minutes and the A2s three minutes.
With six laps of an undulating circuit, for a total race distance of 80km, to contend with the A1 scratch group shared the workload early in the contest.
Making Annaclone breakaway
However, about halfway through the race a decisive group would get clear of the A1s before those ahead were caught.
McGlinchey was in that group alongside Ronan McLaughlin (Dan Morrissey-MIG-Pactimo), David Montgomery (Unattached) and Lindsay Watson (Powerhouse Sport).
They gained ground on those ahead and would eventually make the catch, going through them to form a four-man breakaway with the rest of the field scattered back the road.
However, a chase continued behind and with the leaders only ever enjoyin.g a modest advantage they had to keep pressing hard all the way.
As the finish approached, Montgomery took it up first; going for a flyer and kicking again with about 300 metres to the line.
However, Chris McGlinchey powered through in the wet conditions to win from McLaughlin, Montgomery and Watson; victory in his first race for Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK.
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