Conor Dunne had to deal with a tragic family loss last month following a boating accident in France. The An Post Chainreaction man showed admirable resolve to keep training and produce some memorable performances last week in the Tour of Britain (Picture: Vincent O'Connor)
By Brian Canty
Conor Dunne has revealed he had to miss the funeral of his late uncle Roger last month in order to prepare for the Tour of Britain.
The An Post Chainreaction man was in the middle of a training camp in early August when he received a phone call with the tragic news his uncle had drowned in a boating accident in France.
Dunne was understandably heartbroken as his uncle had been his idol and inspiration and man who first got him into cycling – but he vowed to stay at the training camp.
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“He was probably the most influential person in my career,” admitted Dunne.
“He was the man who helped get me on the bike first day.
“We’d go out riding to farms in the country and he even took me to the Alps, he was the man who taught me about bikes and my love for them today is because of him.”
Roger raced with distinction on the continent, racing alongside Neil Martin for ACC Contern in Luxembourg.
Martin describes him as “a bloody good rider too. He won a few races which was hard to do back in those days”.
Dunne said he really felt the loss of his uncle but was determined to stay focussed for the last part of the season.
“He was always my inspiration so it was quite hard to take when he passed away.
“It was tough but I bottled it up a bit. I missed the funeral and that was a very hard thing to do but Roger would have wanted me to do that.
“If I pulled myself out of the training bubble it’d have been the end of my season.”
Dunne admitted he trained harder than ever, knowing the Tour of Britain was among the biggest races of his career.
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Conor Dunne has ridden the U23 road race at the Worlds, but the weekend after next will see his first outing in the elite event.
And fittingly, he delivered some of his best ever performances, earning him a stint in the hot spots sprints jersey and a call-up to the Irish team for the elite men’s road race at the World Championships on Sunday week.
“He’d be a proud man if he was alive today I think,” said Dunne.
“I wanted to get up there and show myself, I’d never done consecutive days like in Britain against that quality of field but I was really, really happy.
“The support I got was incredible; it was a bit surreal to be honest and I was so proud to ride the way I did.
“I was confident in how I was feeling going into the race but to get the Irish call-up after was the icing on the cake.
“It hasn’t sunk in; I’m still getting over the fatigue.
“I remember the World Championships last year watching the elite race thinking how cool it was and how much I’d love to do it.
“It’s a bit mad that I’m doing it so soon and I’ll be so proud to pull on the Irish jersey on.
“My twitter and Facebook pages have gone crazy and it has been an incredible few weeks.
“It’s been overwhelming, people coming up to me with Ireland flags, out on the roads; people I don’t even know!”
His job in the US will be to protect Sam Bennett and hope the Carrick makes it to the line to contest what is expected to be a sprint from a reduced group.
“I’ll do all I can for him, we’ll see what the plan is for the team,” said done.
“It’s going to be tough against so many big names but Sam has been flying and I’m going to try and help him.”
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