The performances of some of the Irish teams in action at the European Road Championships in Holland in recent days were significantly undermined by being gridded at the back of the fields on the start lines.
The course in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, were very tight in places, with the field riding through streets barely wide enough for a vehicle to pass in stretches.
Many of the races started very fast, with some of the stronger nations gridded at the front anxious to split the racing early.
That made for fast and nervous starts, with crashes occurring in some of the races in the opening kilometre or soon thereafter.
In the U23 men's road race on Saturday, Michael O'Loughlin and Ben Healy made the front group and finished in it; two strong performances and squeezing past crashes.
Advertisement
Unfortunately the other riders in the team came off worse, being gridded at the back and seeing a big gap open between them at the front section of the race after crashes in the opening kilometre.
The situation was even more pronounced for some of the other Irish teams, not more so than Alice Sharpe the elite women's race.
She has really grown in stature in recent seasons and would have been highly fancied to make the front group.
However, like most of the other Irish she was gridded at the back of the field and while she started very fast to pass half the bunch in the opening kilometre, that effort did not save her.
The Dutch women drove the race from the early stages, meaning the speed was on from the gun.
Because of that, the race was split in less than half of the opening 11km lap and Sharpe was simply too far back from the start to be in with a chance to make the front group.
Related News
While some of the Irish teams planted themselves at the front of the fields before the start, the stronger nations were then called forward in a gridding process.
This had the effect of organising the bunches on the start line with the higher ranked nations all at the front and Ireland close to the back or at the very back.
While this could at other times be overcome on more conventional road race championships courses, the streets in Alkmaar were very narrow and for some of the races were also wet.
Those conditions, combined with the speed, crashes blocking the narrow roads and the wind making chasing back on a very difficult proposition, the gridding significantly worked against the Irish.
Away from the gridding, there were also other issues that hit the Irish team that Cycling Ireland has made comment about; the national governing body offering no comment on any of the action at the Europeans.
Ryan Mullen was a big hope for a medal but unfortunately was ruled out with a knee injury. Cycling Ireland made no comment on that before the elite TT or since it.
The first anyone knew of Mullen's absence was when the official confirmed start list was published on the day and his name was not included.
Cycling Ireland also offered no warning, or subsequent news, on significant changes to the elite men's road race team, despite Sam Bennett being a pre-race favourite for Ireland.
Cycling Ireland did not fill Ireland's full complement of riders in the elite team and while Eddie Dunbar and Conor Dunne were named in the team some weeks ago, neither took to the start line.
Team commitments can often result in riders being unable to take up their places in national selections.
It is something that is a common part of cycling and is no fault of the riders as their primary commitment must be to their trade teams at times during the season.
However, like medal favourite Mullen's absence from the TT, the absence of key riders that could have aided Bennett in his road race medal bid has warranted no comment whatever from Cycling Ireland.
Topics
