Can the An Post-Sean Kelly team take the Elite title back to Belgium or will those with other plans prevail?
By Brian Canty
Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) is looking to follow in the footsteps of David O’Loughlin and David McCann when he goes in search of his third National Elite Road Race title in Clonmel tomorrow, Sunday.
Brammeier would be the first man ever to make it three wins-in-a-row and it’s hardly surprising that he will start as one of the pre-race favourites for the 167 kilometre hike.
Here – in no order of importance - we look at the top ten contenders likely to challenge the reigning champion for top honours.
Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport)
The Belfast rider, now part of the British IG Sigma Sport team, is enjoying a stellar season that has already seen him scoop the Des Hanlon Memorial, a string of smaller races nationwide, a second place in a British Premier Calendar and an eye-catching number of top 10 finishes at the Ras (including the Mamore Gap stage), as well as last week’s win on Divis Mountain in Belfast.
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He seems to have come out of the Ras in good shape. If he gets into a winning move tomorrow he will be very hard to drop and has proven time and time again this year that he has a very good gallop at the end of a long hard race.
Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles)
What’s there to say about Armstrong that hasn’t been said already? The precociously talented youngster has taken his cycling to a whole new level this year and as well as winning the KOH jersey at Rás Mumhan, victories in a string of one-day races, a stage and the GC in the Tour of Ulster, as well as a podium finish at the Rás, it will be interesting to see how he has come out of that.
He didn’t feature last year but has the potential to last the pace with the big guns.
Expect him to ride aggressively and if he gets in the break he has the horse-power to contend; just as he showed on stage six of the Rás with Ireland’s first podium finish of the week.
Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale)
Roche has stood on all steps of the podium and it would take a brave man to bet against him standing on it again this year; perhaps on the top again.
With the Tour de France just one week away, he is looking in ominous form with a top 10 finish at the Tour de Suisse earlier this month. He’s the man that will attract all the attention wherever he goes.
The course is a difficult one, and there won’t be many who have the legs and the horsepower to match Roche when he inevitably puts the hammer down. With two climbs in such close proximity, the race should blow apart and Roche is likely to be the one causing the damage.
Riding the Tour de France as national champion is something he has fond memories of in the past and it’s bound to motivate him again.
Ronan McLaughlin (An Post-Sean Kelly)
Hardly a dark horse anymore, the Donegal rider is just improving all the time and a national crown would be the perfect reward for a man who was one of the main animators of the Rás.
That race gave him very little, a few awesome rides tempered by near misses and crashes. His eight-day ordeal sums up the sport in many ways; unforgiving.
But McLaughlin is tough as teak and has picked up a number of good wins on Irish roads this season. He should be capable of improving on his sixth place of last year.
David McCann (RTS Racing)
It’s quite astonishing when you consider the Belfast man is still able to cut it at the highest level despite being eligible for the veteran’s race next year.
He’s been third twice, runner-up on three occasions and twice the champion, so it’s fair to say the nationals has always been kind to the Olympic-bound McCann.
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He keeps his shape year-round and despite an horrific injury to his thumb in the Tour of Korea prior to last month’s An Post Rás, appears to be in ominous form once again.
The course will suit him to an extent but if it was harder, he would perhaps do better.
McCann is liked for his aggressive racing and in the aftermath of his bronze medal last year he spoke about the negativity as one reason for him not finishing higher.
In fact, in Scotstown last year he spent half a lap away on his own which probably cost him in the finish but getting away from Roche (albeit hampered by his bad crash at the Dauphine) and Bennett was a good performance. Expect something similar this time around.
Sam Bennett (An Post-Sean Kelly)
It’s unclear how Bennett is following his final stage DNS at the Boucles de la Mayenne (UCI 2.2) four-day in France. The grapevine says he packed in France to give himself a rest ahead of tomorrow’s race and that he is in flying form; a theory that will soon be tested.
The reserve man for the Olympics, he has had a good season to date, stringing together a couple of good months in Belgium (April and May) into the Rás where he again underlined his sprinting ability with a couple of top three placings. But tomorrow’s race is going to be harder, arguably, than any of the above.
What will assist Bennett, of course, is his team and should Sean Downey, Ronan McLaughlin or Connor McConvey make it into the break, then the dynamic changes.
Simply put, if he’s there with a kilometre to go, he should podium. A win is probably a year or two too early but having said that if he did take the title it would not be a massive shock.
The U23 category could see him become the first man in Irish history to make it three-wins-in-a-row.
Paidi O’Brien (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes)
Runner-up twice, third place three times, it’s one of the great misfortunes that the Cork-based Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes fast-man hasn’t actually yet won a senior title.
Being pipped in 2007 by David O’Loughlin in Waterford will probably be one of his biggest regrets but there’s still enough kick in O’Brien’s legs to contend for a podium finish.
With the backing of a team, in Mick Fitzgerald particularly, it would take a brave man to write O’Brien off if he succeeds in getting into the escape and holding the pace until the finish.
Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare)
The Letterkenny man is one of the great enigmas of Irish cycling; capable of being awesome one minute and average the next.
One of only two Irish riders to win a stage of a Grand Tour in 20 years is a stat that no one can take from Deignan but that win in the Vuelta in 2009 is now almost three years ago and it remains to be seen if we’ll see him take another big win this year
Now based in Dublin but riding for the UnitedHealthcare US team, Deignan has dropped down from World Tour level but has ridden quite well this year so far, including some good rides in the Tour of Turkey.
But that was in April. Like we said, he can be hit or miss. If he hits form, it will be hard to beat him. But it is unclear if that will happen tomorrow.
Philip Lavery (NODE 4 Giordana)
Lavery is one of the most promising young riders in the country right now. He wears his heart on his sleeve and his aggressive old-school style has earned him huge respect.
Winner of the Shay Elliott Memorial this year as well as Wednesday night’s prestigious Stephen Roche GP are just some of his recent wins. But he has taken a strong of domestic races since the very start of the season and one victory in the UK. He was also 8th on the last stage of the Tour de Beauce in Canada last week. Winning an U23 title is what Lavery would want more than anything. Like Bennett, the elite title is probably a few years away yet but he should be right up there in the shake-up and if he were to get into the top three it would not be a massive upset.
Ryan Sherlock (Cycleways)
Having watched his wife Mel Spath take the women’s title today, the Cycleways rider will be hoping to at least perform well enough in tomorrow’s road race to match his fifth spot in the elite TT on Thursday night. Sherlock has definitely had a breakthrough season this year, taking a string of wins on home roads and being unlucky not to win the Kerry Group Ras Mumhan overall at Easter. He is likely to be strong until the very end tomorrow and if he can get into a winning move and be aggressive towards the end, he may give some of the bigger names home from the Continent a bit of a surprise.
Honourable mentions: Sean Downey, Connor McConvey, Mark Dowling, Patrick Clarke.
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