Eddie Dunbar rode a great championship race; breaking clear and driving hard all the way. However, he found himself sprinting for the title against one of the best sprinters in the word in the shape of Sam Bennett (Photo by Caroline Kerley, homepage photo by Sean Rowe)
Eddie Dunbar has described Sam Bennett
as a worthy national champion and a rider who would do the Irish champion’s
jersey proud over the next 12 months.
The Team Ineos man finished 2nd in
Bennett in the men’s race at the National Road Race Championships yesterday.
They arrived at the finish in Derry City
for a two-up sprint, with Dunbar leading it out but Bennett coming passed him.
While Dunbar is a former junior champion on the road and in the TT discipline, he is still chasing an elite gold.
Advertisement
However, still aged just 22 years time
is very much on his side. He adds his silver medal of yesterday to the silver
he won back in 2015 when Damien Shaw beat him into 2nd place.
Dunbar was magnanimous in defeat
yesterday and even though Bennett had said he sat on his rival a little bit in
the final couple of laps, the eventual runner-up didn’t see it that way.
He suggested that as the faster sprinter
of the two, and because they had a decent gap, it was only natural Bennett
would ease of the gas a little.
Both riders combined to dominate the race and the only shame of it was that one of them had to finish in 2nd place.
Dunbar and Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) had been with Mark Dowling (Unattached) and Darragh O’Mahony (CC Nogent-sur-Oise).
Related News
However, that four-man breakaway was
trimmed to two when O’Mahony and then Dowling lost contact.
From that point on the two biggest names
in the race were in a head to head to see which one of them would take their
first elite title.
And though Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo)
hunted them down on his own on the last lap, he ran out of road and had to
settle for bronze.
Dunbar led out the sprint on the uphill
finish only for Bennett to come around him and consign him to silver again.
“It’s bitter sweet really,” Dunbar said at the finish before going on to talk more about Bennett than himself.
Eddie Dunbar continued: “It would always be nice if I was the national champion, but Sam’s a worthy winner of the national stripes.
“And he’s going to do the jersey proud
over the next year. I always say, I’ve got more years to win this race.”
Dunbar said the race was a tough one
with action throughout the contest over the hilly circuit.
“It was really aggressive racing. Me and
Sam; we rode really hard. And we have plenty of racing in our legs this year.
“We knew the guys behind; once we got a
gap it was going to be difficult for anyone to close a gap on that course
because you couldn’t see us.
“We rode well together. None of us
really missed turns. Obviously coming in the road, it’s natural, Sam eased off
a bit. But he’s a worthy champion and I wish him all the best.”
Topics
