A seasoned road international, Sean Downey says gaining a place in the elite Irish team pursuit line-up is far from a foregone conclusion (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s newest elite track recruit, Sean Downey says he’s enjoying being back in the fold after a four-year absence but knows it’ll take something special to secure a place in the team pursuit squad.
The An Post Chain Reaction rider will travel to Majorca on December 29th for the final training camp before the next World Cup in Colombia in the middle of January.
He said he’d love to be on the team for that final round of World Cup meets.
Downey deputised for an injured Martyn Irvine and rested Ryan Mullen in London a fortnight ago, but the team finished dead last in a time that was well below their best.
Advertisement
Downey, far left, just about to get underway in the team pursuit at the UCI World Cup in London. A winner of a bronze medal in this discipline for Northern Ireland four years ago at the Commonwealth Games, he has returned to the Irish fold on the boards though will ride the road season with An Post-Chainreaction (Photo: Guy Swarbrick)
“London was a good experience for me to be going as my first race back after four years away from track,” said the Banbridge man.
Related News
“It was a nice start, we didn’t have Martyn or Ryan obviously but it was good just for the sheer effort; seeing how we did compared to what the team with Martyn and Ryan would maybe have done.
“There was no expectation, we were just put together as a team really quickly.
Taking the sprint from the day-long breakaway for silver at the National Road Race Championships; Downey is due a big win and undoubtedly has the legs now (Photo with thanks to George Doyle)
"And Brian (Nugent, Cycling Ireland coach) wanted to see how we’d go because he wanted to see what he might have for the U23 Euro Track champs in July.
“The next camp is after Christmas and then the selection will be made for Cali.
"I’d love to go there. It’s the last World Cup and it’d be nice to see how I’ve improved since London.
"But I need to get picked; Brian will see how everyone is going and the team will be picked from that.”
Topics
