Sean Downey wasn't totally satisfied with his silver medal winning ride at the national championships on Sunday. (Photo Gary Guildea)
By Gerard Cromwell
Although he admits he didn’t go into Sunday’s national road race championships with any high expectations, Banbridge man Sean Downey says he was disappointed to come away from the event with the silver medal.
“It was a good performance and a good team effort but I’m still disappointed not to win it,” said the An Post Chain Reaction rider of his second place ride.
“Going into the race I wasn’t really holding any expectations of what was going to happen, who I was going to be with or who was going to win the race.
“I was just going in to be aggressive and see how the race panned out.
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"It’s the nationals, one of those races where there are a few really top strong guys but then you’ve got a lot of guys there that can cling onto you and it all depends how the race unfolds.”
Downey in fact instigated the initial move that ended up dominating the day’s proceedings, jumping clear with Madison Genesis rider Dominic Jelfs three quarters of the way around the opening lap.
“Myself and Dom clipped away and then that big group rolled up to us,” he says.
“When they caught us and I saw none of the big riders in it I was quite surprised. I don’t know how they let such a big group go, but I looked around and saw a lot of horsepower in the group and we had three there.
“There were no Baku riders or any of the big boys. I was like ‘flip this is a really good group here’. We started rolling through and the gap started opening.
“I knew the boys would be trying to get across but I also knew there would be 100 guys sitting on them trying to ride across with them, because they know they’ve the big engines to get across.
“Everyone was thinking the same thing but it’s not easy to shake 100 boys off your wheel.”
Having made the decisive break of the race alongside strong men Bryan McCrystal and Paidi O'Brien, Downey thought it was to be his day (George Doyle)
Feeling strong, Downey was getting more confident of donning the shamrock jersey of champion as the race wore on.
“I was feeling really strong and was never under any pressure at all,” he admits.
“On the second last lap, I could see some of the guys were getting tired and I put in a really big attack on the climb and Paidi (O’Brien) was the only one that could follow me.
“I rode really hard and I tried to get him to ride through but he wasn’t riding through strong. We started slowing down, the boys started chasing and we were caught.”
Shortly afterwards, teammate Ryan Mullen soloed clear of the rest of the group and went on to take the national title.
“Maybe if I was by myself I would have committed one hundred percent and you never know how it would have panned out, but it was just the way it was.
“Maybe me putting in that massive attack weakened the other guys and Ryan was the lucky one who went at the right time and got away.
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“He sort of rolled off the front because everyone was watching each other. Once he got the gap, there was no hope of him coming back. He’s so strong.
“I think it was just the luck of the draw at the end of the day because we were in a very strong position having the three guys up there.”
With Mullen gone clear, Downey and the other An Post Chain Reaction rider in the break, Jack Wilson, had a free ride to the finish.
Having finished second at the national championships, Downey's next big goal is the Commonwealth Games, where he will ride for Northern Ireland (Photo: Toby Watson)
But with Dan Martin and Damien Shaw closing in and nobody wanting to deliver the two postmen to the line, the final lap was anything but smooth.
“It was cat and mouse,” says Downey of the last 19km.
“Everyone was jumping around. The boys knew that Ryan was never going to be seen again but they didn’t want to tow us around and give us a free ride. We weren’t riding but the boys were messing around a bit and no one was really committing.
“I said ‘look Dan Martin is coming, you’ll have to start riding’ and then they started rolling through together but in the last couple of kilometres it was cat and mouse again.”
Although both O’Brien and Jelfs are both renowned sprinters, the Banbridge youngster says he wasn’t too concerned about the final gallop for the rest of the medals.
“I was just really determined to get the second place and fired up for it so, looking back at it, I didn’t expect to be beaten because I was feeling so good and confident I could win the sprint.”
A late attack by Wilson also helped soften up his rivals before the final gallop to the line, where he held off O’Brien and the rest of the group.
“Jack said to me out the road that he was hurting because of all the jumping around,” says Downey.
“He must have known he didn’t have the legs to win the sprint so he put the attack in to make the boys follow him, which was great because I could just follow the wheels.
“Dom (Jelfs) led the sprint out and it worked out perfectly. By Jack making that move, it helped me quite a lot because it weakened them a bit more.”
While 19-year-old Mullen is now being touted by many as the next Irish rider to turn professional, Downey is now out of the U23 ranks and in his second season as an elite rider but the 23-year-old feels little pressure to join the paid ranks just yet.
“This year I’ve definitely made a big leap forward and developed quite a lot so it’s heading in the right direction.
“It would be nice to turn pro when you’re under 23 but everyone matures differently and things happen, accidents and stuff, so you can’t put an age on your dreams.
“I’m not putting myself under any pressure. You have to treat every race as an opportunity and try to get the best out of it.
“I’m just going to keep chipping away.”
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