Gareth O’Neill has said he was delighted to take victory
at the Annaclone GP, promoted by Banbridge CC today, after training for months
with no racing due to the Covid-19 lock-down.
With restrictions in the North now lifted enough to allow
outdoor sports events resume, Banbridge CC wasted no time in getting its promotion
on today to commence racing on the island of Ireland, though events in the
Republic are not yet returned.
O’Neill of Caldwell Cycles was in the thick of the action
off the front today and in the hefty exchanges that characterised the closing
kilometres of the race he got the gap on his own and had the legs to carry it
all the way to the line.
In the end he was 14 seconds up on the best of the rest,
Nathan Mullan (Dromara), after almost two hours of racing; Mullan getting the
better of O’Neill’s team mate Darnell Moore, who had to settle for 3rd today.
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Fergus Callaghan (Four Masters CC) placed 4th in the
handicapped main event for A1-A2-A3 riders, with up and coming young gun Darren
Rafferty (Velleneuve Cycliste) in 5th and prolific winner of recent seasons
Lindsay Watson (PowerHouse Sport) rounding out the top six.
O’Neill told stickybottle his team mates were
instrumental today in giving him support when he attacked from the breakaway
group as the moves made after him were covered by Moore and Craig McAuley.
“Today was a very hard and fast race
but that was expected as everyone was up for it due to the long lay-off,” O’Neill
said after winning the first race of the year on the island following the
cancellation of all road and cyclocross events so far this year.
“The handicaps where quite big so we
had to ride hard to close it,” he added of the six minutes to be made up
between the A1 scratch group and the A3 limit riders over six laps.
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O’Neill added with about two laps to
go the A1 group he was with, and some of those it had caught, mopped up the
last of those still up ahead.
Once the race was intact, a small breakaway group got clear heading in the final lap. After it had established a gap, it was later joined by another four, making for some 10 riders out front.
From that group, McAuley was the
first to light it up on the run in with an attack, though he was caught. Once
he was back in the group Moore had a go for Caldwell Cycles and was joined by
Powerhouse Sport’s Watson, but they too were brought back.
It then proved third time lucky for
Caldwell as O’Neill made a solo move with about 4km to go just after Moore and
Watson were caught; getting what would prove to be a winning gap.
“This win for me wouldn’t have been
possible without the help behind, with Darnell and Craig following every move,”
O’Neill said.
“All in all it was a great day for
the team, getting 1st and 3rd. I’m delighted with the win after all these
months putting the work in with the help and guidance off Barry Monaghan and
Lee Compton (Nadura Clinic) which I am very grateful for.”
In the A4 race the finish came down to a bunch sprint won by Karl Love from VC Glendale team mate Chris Oakley and Peter Elliott of VC Iveagh.
Maia Simmons, a 16-year-old riding with the Canyon Esports Development Team, got up for 9th in the A4 race and was also first woman.
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