It was a year in which Irish cycling enjoyed four Grand Tour stage wins, a European track title and two paracycling world titles. But there were low points too and a changed landscape as a new year arrives. Above, Sam Bennett takes his third Giro d'Italia win on the final day into Rome.
Irish cycling’s highest and lowest moments of 2018
An Post-Chainreaction’s absence
Having been around for over a decade, the fact An Post-Chainreaction was absent from the pro peloton this year was a major blow for Irish cycling. We still had skin in the game in the shape of Aqua Blue Sport; at least at the start of the year. But An Post-Chainreaction competed at Continental level, meaning it was a more likely stepping stone for riders from the home scene. Its absence from the bunch as the professional season started in Europe was extremely disappointing.
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Lara Gillespie’s cyclocross title win
The youth ranks have often been dominated by riders who fail to make the same impression at elite level or even as juniors and U23s. Lara Gillespie had been a wonderkid in youth racing for several seasons before the start of this year. And her ability to win the elite cyclocross title in January, just weeks out of the U16 category, was a rare achievement. It was also a sign of things to come from the Scott-Orwell teenager; a big start to a big year.
Ryan Mullen’s Argentina win
In his first race with new team Trek-Segafredo, Ryan Mullen took his first international win as a pro in Argentina. The national TT champion rocketed home to take stage 3 of the Vuelta a San Juan Internacional (2.1). He proved unbeatable in the 14.4km pan flat TT in San Juan. His time of 17:43 was a significant 25 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna (UAE Team Emirates). Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) was 3rd a further five seconds back.
Mark Downey’s Commonwealth Games
He may have come home empty handed from Australia, but Mark Downey went very close to taking a medal in the hardest event; the elite men’s road race. He was sprinting for victory in a small group of the men left standing after a real war of attrition. And in the end he just came up short, by a matter of inches (above), in the fight for the final medal. But for a rider who had been focusing on the track over the 2017-2018 winter and beyond, his ability to switch to the road race and bang out such a strong result was impressive. In the very proud history of Northern Ireland cycling, few were able to do what Downey did back in April.
Sam Bennett’s Grand Tour breakthrough
Bennett may have made his Grand Tour breakthrough this year in winning three Giro stages, but at the start of the race he still had it all to prove. He knew he was capable of beating any of the other top sprinters on his day in any finish. But knowing you can do it and actually doing it in a Grand Tour are two very different things. His second stage win of the Giro into Imola was the most impressive; Bennett absolutely dominating to win. And his victory into Rome on the final day was the icing on the cake; capping a brilliant three weeks. But it was the first of his three wins into Praia a Mare on stage 7 that was most special, precisely because it was his first Grand Tour stage victory and the first on the Giro by an Irish rider for three decades.
Eve McCrystal’s Irish title
Was there ever a rider more overdue a national title than Eve McCrystal in the elite women’s road race? She rides as sighted pilot on the international paracycling circuit. But McCrystal won the elite crown on her own in June in Sligo and that is a special kind of achievement. She had won six medals at the Irish elite championships, all of them silver or bronze, before her gold medal triumph. Dropped on the final lap by the three others in the breakaway, McCrystal got back to them by burying herself knowing the biggest prize in Irish cycling was at stake. And when she made contact again and the finish came to a sprint, she demolished it with all the swagger of Sam Bennett in full flight.
Darnell Moore’s nationals ride
The Caldwell Cycles amateur had already won the national hill climb title at the end of 2017 and the elite cyclocross title at the beginning of 2018. But it was his ride in the National Road Championships (above) in July that really stood out. Conor Dunne won gold; an extremely popular result with Irish fans given Dunne’s constant good humour and agreeable disposition. But Dunne is a European-based pro who has ridden the Vuelta. We expect riders like him to win the championships. For Moore, on the other hand; he was in a field littered with riders competing for Continental, ProConti and WorldTour teams. Yet the Irish club rider was the only one able to stay with Dunne until deep into the last lap. He not only hung on for 2nd place but took gold in the U23 contest within the elite race. Moore’s ride was a real triumph and he proved, just like Chris McGlinchey 12 months earlier, that the best and bravest of the Irish club men can get in and mix it up with the pros.
Dan Martin’s Tour triumph
It wasn’t Martin’s first Tour stage win and his 2014 Liège-Bastogne-Liège triumph also ranks as a much bigger victory. But the way he attacked from over 1km out on stage 6 of the Tour and danced up the Mur de Bretagne to win (below) was truly awesome. Even for a rider like Martin who always wants to race and put it all on the line when he’s on song; his explosive kick and his stamina to go the distance combined for the best finish in this year’s Tour. His ability to attack out of the saddle up the full climb and to have the courage to even try to pull it off on a climb like Mur de Bretagne, is a mark of the rider he is. His surge up the climb that day was, without question, the most impressive thing any Irish cyclist did this year. Sam Bennett’s Giro pushed him close; but the Tour is the Tour.
Team pursuiters’ Euros implosion
The international debut of the women’s team pursuit line-up at the European Track Championships in August proved to be a case of ‘too much too soon’. The line-up of Alice Sharpe, Orla Walsh, Mia Griffin and Hilary Hughes was a mix of experience and inexperience. Unfortunately the latter won out to create one of Irish cycling’s most difficult moments of the year. They split on the track into two groups of two; continuing to ride flat-out instead of reforming. The decision to debut them at this level was called into question. And the women were forced to endure difficult comments on social media, not to mention some smart-assed commentary on British TV as the race went out to the public. To her immense credit, it was Hughes who stepped up and agreed to speak on behalf of the team after the disaster. The team’s ride may have been a low point of 2018, but it wasn’t the last we’d hear from them.
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Alice Sharpe at Europeans road race
Sharpe’s finishing the European Road Race Championships, also in August in Glasgow, was perhaps one of the most unappreciated moments of the year. She finished in the second large group, some 3:47 down. She placed 35th of the 73 finishers from a start list of 110. She was Ireland’s sole rider in the race and in making it all the way she managed to do with very few Irish women have; finish a European or world championships road race, especially on a lumpy course. Still only just 24 years old, Sharpe is one to watch and one for Cycling Ireland to back.
Ireland’s Tour de l’Avenir
The Irish U23 team rode out their socks at the Tour de l’Avenir in August. Eddie Dunbar was 2nd on the final stage (above) and 8th overall having proven one of the very best in the high mountains. And before the second half of the race hit the mountains, the rest of the team attacked the flatter stages. Mark Downey, Daire Feeley, Darragh O’Mahony and Michael O’Loughlin all spent time on the attack. Downey and O’Loughlin made it all the way in their breakaways to take 2nd and 4th respectively on stages. For an Ireland team to ride so well at this level is unusual. And under the stewardship of Neil Martin in France they rode brilliantly as a unit.
Collapse of Aqua Blue Sport
Aqua Blue Sport had taken its place in the pro peloton at the start of the 2017 season. But less than 20 months later it was all over. The Irish ProContinental team ceased operations in early August. Even plans to compete in the Tour of Britain as a final race were scrapped. It was a very disappointing and sudden end to a project that held so much promise. The shock of the sudden end to the outfit compounded the fact Irish cycling had lost a team that could have been strategically important in the years ahead. However, with its e-commerce retailing site not meeting financial targets, the team’s bike proving problematic and an attempt to buy a rival outfit all weighing heavily on team owner Rick Delaney, he decided to pull the plug after €7 million had been spent. It was a major low point of Ireland’s cycling year.
Lara Gillespie’s golden moment
At the European Junior Track Championships in Switzerland in August Lara Gillespie won silver in the individual pursuit and then gold (above) in the points race. The junior rider had spent the year winning all around her at home and competing really strongly on the international stage. But to go and take two medals, including a gold, as a first-year junior at the Europeans was special. It announced her arrival onto the world stage; something she appeared to take in her stride.
Eddie Dunbar signs for Team Sky
While most of the former Aqua Blue Sport riders and staff were looking to put plans in place for next year, Eddie Dunbar landed on his feet. The young Irishman secured a place with Team Sky. And he didn’t even have to wait for the 2019 season to ride for the WorldTour outfit. Instead, the team put him into a series of one-day races in Italy where he excelled. And that racing proved the perfect tune-up for the U23 road race at the Worlds, though he would fall short of his own high expectations there.
Golden Girls’ “double double”
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal completed the double double in August. They won gold in the road race and TT at the Paracycling World Road Championships in Italy. The championships were the second in succession they’d won the rainbow bands in both the race against the clock and the road race. Ireland’s Golden Girls were now not just winning medals; they were carving their names deep in the history books.
Philip Deignan retires
Having become a father and also found himself out of contract in a very tough transfer market, Philip Deignan made the decision to hang up his racing wheels. He made his announcement in November and at the end of five years racing with Team Sky. His departure was a low point for Irish cycling; with so few WorldTour pros even one deciding to depart will always be regarded as a blow. He began as a pro in the 2005 season with AG2R Prévoyance and would stay with that outfit for four years and then spent two seasons at the Cervelo Test Team. It was during his time there, in 2009 and 2010, that he enjoyed his best ever results. In the first year of his contract he won a Vuelta stage (above) and was 9th overall in the race In 2011 Deignan rode with RadioShack, enduring a testing year with the team. After that season he went to UnitedHealthcare, a US-based ProContinental team. He recaptured his form there and would win the Tour of the Gila overall. Furthermore, his performances captured the eye of Team Sky.
Team pursuiters bounce back
They may have endured one of the lowest points of the year, but the team pursuiters bounced back admirably to follow up with one of the high points of 2018. At the London World Cup in December they came very close to breaking the national record. And they became the first female Irish team pursuiters to progress to the next round of the event at a major meeting. In 2012 the format of the event was changed to ensure the eight quickest teams in team pursuit qualifying survived for a next round of racing. The Irish riders in action in London were Mia Griffin, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Orla Walsh. They clocked a time of 4:31.762. That was over 1.5 seconds quicker than their time in Berlin two weeks earlier when they stopped the clock at 4:33.296 in the 4km event.
Tandem sprint success
Sprinters Martin Gordon and Eamon Byrne saw off all-comers, except the world champions from Great Britain, to take silver in the sprint at the London World Cup two weeks ago. The duo was competing in the tandem B sprint and broke the national record in the flying 200m in qualifying, with a time of 10.313. In the quarter finals they beat Switzerland and they got past Great Britain in the semi final. That set up a clash in the final with another Great Britain pairing, world champions Neil Fachie and pilot Matt Rotherham. While the Irish riders were beaten in the final, they came away with the silver medal.
New Irish Continental team emerges
If An Post-Chainreaction’s absence and the collapse of Aqua Blue Sport were low points of the Irish cycling year, Evo Pro Racing proved a high point. In recent weeks management of the completely new Irish Continental team have confirmed the squad will race in the pro peloton next year. And the team has assembled a very impressive Irish and international line-up. Among the Irish riders signed up are Aaron Kearney, Mark Downey, Matt Teggart, Daire Feeley and Cormac Mcgeough. The creation of the team means Irish cyclists looking to race at pro level will have a squad to aim for even though we have lost two teams.
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