Greg Swinand soloed to a brilliant win in the Meath GP promoted by Navan Road Club today. The Aquablue man is clearly showing no signs of slowing down and will go to the national veteran's road race championships in a few weeks as one of the favourites (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Greg Swinand rode away from a top-class field to win the Meath GP yesterday by around 30 seconds; the Aquablue man proving his class yet again as the national championships loom.
The Canadian-born Wicklow native had been part of the day’s early break that escaped inside 10 kilometres of racing.
And when he attacked the move with a whopping 50 kilometres to go he wasn’t seen again.
In the decisive early move were a host of heavy hitters including Swinand’s teammate Sean McKenna (Aquablue), Stephen Murray (Strata3-Velo Revolution), Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Team), Connor McConvey (Team 3M), Javan Nulty and Mark Dowling (both DID Electrical Dunboyne), Ali Macaulay (Team ASEA) and Paidi O’Brien (McCarthy Cycles) amongst others.
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“McKenna went up the road early and McConvey went with him,” recalled Swinand of how matters unfolded.
“But that move came back together and McKenna went again. Eventually, a big break got away and most of the big guns were in there.
“I think Páidí (O’Brien) was the last guy to bridge across but once we got organised we were gone.
“We got away on the first hill and rode hard up the next two hills in succession. We all worked well together initially because every team had someone there.
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“There was like a 10-man TT and after 10 kilometres we had two minutes and I think that was it, really.”
That’s how it remained for the next lap but around the halfway point Swinand said he’d test the waters and see who was strong.
“The next lap on the hill there was a bit of jumping around and a few guys didn’t want to pull through so I just made an acceleration and got away with about 50k to go,” he said.
“I was alone all the way to the finish. The gap was around 30-40 seconds for a while but Dowling managed to get within 10 seconds on the last lap.
“That was crucial. There was a headwind section when I heard Dowling and Kelly were coming across so I just rode really hard there and I knew if they didn’t get across I’d have it.
“It was a good performance and a good race so I’m very pleased. I’ve been a tiny bit off this year and then I got sick so to win is great.”
Swinand will now turn his attention to the national masters road race championships in Omagh at the end of the month where he'll again start as one of the favourites in his event.
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