Conor Dunne in TT action earlier this year; today represented valuable experience for him
The ‘Team Ireland’ duo of Sean Downey and Conor Dunne have had a difficult afternoon at the U23 World Time Trial Championships in Valkenburg, Holland; finishing down the field on a day that will be remembered for one name: Anton Vorobyev.
The young Russian blasted around the course and quite simply obliterated a world class field, taking the title by 44.39 seconds in just 44 minutes of racing.
His time of 44:09.02 was far and away the quickest, with Australian Rohan Dennis the only one to come close to him in the silver medal position, those 44.49 seconds adrift. Dennis’s compatriot Damien Howson was third, some 51.12 seconds off the flying Russian.
A mark of the quality of those medal-winning performances, especially Vorobyev’s, was the presence of Lasse Norman Hansen in fourth; the Danish star lifted the Olympic omnium title in London but was 53.28 seconds off the pace today.
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Ireland’s Downey, who is coming to the end of his first season based in Belgium with the An Post-Sean Kelly team, was 25th in this title race in Copenhagen 12 months ago.
He rode a very evenly paced race today, placing 32nd at both the first and second intermediate time checks. He had lost 1:10 at the first split and 2:30 at the second check.
By the finish of the 36km test he was 30th, 3:10.86 down on the flying Russian winner.
Dunne, who rides for 'Vl Technics – Abutriek' in Belgium, rode like Downey today in that his race was very evenly paced.
The U23 National Time Trial Champion was 48th at the first split, some 1:48 down, and by the second of the two splits he was 47th fastest; down 3:27.
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By the time he continued giving it full gas over the two hills close to the finish, including the infamous Cauberg, he ran out 48th fastest finisher some 4:46.77 down.
Both riders have had good seasons so far this year.
Downey has progressed well in the An Post-Sean Kelly set-up and the highlight of his year to date has been 8th overall in the Kreiz Breizh Elites Three Day in Brittany in July. Having placed 7th in the decisive TT in that race and 11th at the U23 European TT Championships last month, Downey is capable of more than he showed today. He will perhaps be a little disappointed with his ride in what is his last year at U23 level.
He still has the U23 Road Race to come at these Worlds, though with Dunne selected only for the TT in Valkenburg, his Worlds are now over.
He won the U23 TT at the National Championships and having taken his first road win of the year in Belgium last month he, like Downey, will feel today’s result does not do him justice. However, he is young enough to look forward to more U23 Championships ahead and will undoubtedly have learned a huge amount from his ride in Holland today.
U23 World Championships TT, 36km
1 Anton Vorobyev (Russia) 44mins 9.02secs
2 Rohan Dennis (Australia) @44.39
3 Damien Howson (Australia) @51.12
4 Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) @53.28
5 Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark) @1:02.56
6 Marlen Zmorka (Ukraine) @1:09.42
7 Rasmus Brandstrup Sterebo (Denmark) @1:25.24
8 Jasha Sütterlin (Germany) @1:28.70
9 Sergey Chernetski (Russia) @1:37.95
10 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) @1:40.78
30 Sean Downey (Ireland) @3:10.86
48 Conor Dunne (Ireland) @4:46.77
(There were 67 finishers and 1 DNF)
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