Cycling Ireland high performance manager, Iain Dyer, has said Team Ireland needs to focus on future goals after an underwhelming performance in the men's race at the UCI World Road Championships in Glasgow today.
While Ben Healy always looked like the team's best chance of a medal, he appeared under-par today. And though Rory Townsend made the breakaway - and put in a great race - his long stint out front came to an end with a double mechanical on the circuits around Glasgow.
Some of the other riders in the team - also comprised of Sam Bennett, Cormac Mcgeough, Dylan Corkery and Ryan Mullen - suffered bad luck. And in his comments after the race, Dyer said the high performance group must keep moving forward.
"Naturally we’re disappointed with the outcome today," Dyer said. "Nobody signs up for a day like that, but that's the way it is. The team had a bit of bad luck, which changed our prospects during the race. I think looking at the result, you can see it's just a tough day out for everyone.
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"Rory getting into the break was exactly what was planned, and he turned in perhaps our best performance of the race. We had the back end of the race planned for Ben, but it unfortunately wasn't his day on a tough finishing circuit.
"We had some misfortune with punctures and Sam suffering a mechanical issue and a bike change. Ryan also punctured early in the race and Rory’s day in the break came to an end on the circuit due to a puncture. After today we need to dust ourselves down and look forward to more opportunities in the week ahead.”
Townsend, Ireland's breakaway hero, said he had really hoped to be at the pointy end for much longer, though he was rightly satisfied at having gone out and been aggressive, and showing off the national colours on the biggest stage.
“(It was) not as long of a day as I would have liked I guess," Townsend said after a puncture and slipped chain conspired against him. "I’m happy to be out there, representing the jersey is pretty special. It’s pretty close to a home championships for the Irish team and there were a lot of shouts out there (from Irish supporters) which was nice. It’s a shame that I punctured late on and that kind of put paid to our day.
“I had a mechanical in the break and that put me out the back of the bunch. It looked like I could get back into the bunch again in a chase group of five and then turned onto the steep climb (Montrose Street) and dropped my chain. It was pretty much the worst place to drop a chain and it took me a while to get going again.”
