Mark Downey said while the World Junior Championships in Florence was tough, he enjoyed the experience (Photo: Sean Rowe)
One of three Irish junior riders to line out in the World Road Championships in Florence this morning, Saturday, Mark Downey said he was determined to learn from the experience.
The Banbridge teenager who rides for the Nicolas Roche Performance Team got into difficulty on the second lap of five on the 16.6km finishing circuit and after being dropped he was among a large number of riders stopped by the commissaries from continuing to the finish.
“When we got into Florence we had a 28.9 miles per hour average,” Downey said of the 60km section of the race that led the riders into Florence to start their five laps.
“While it was racing it kind of felt casual. I was in the middle of the bunch, floating around and watching who was racing. That was my role; to watch who was doing what until we got into Florence.”
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“Then when the break was let go clear and they got a big gap I just relaxed. I said to the boys that after two laps up that climb I was going to blow. So I just tried my best to stick in there and if Eddie (Dunbar) needed a hand; if he needed a bottle or a wheel, when then I’d be there for that.”
Downey said he expected the climb to be very tough and was not disappointed.
“The first time up it, Jesus it was hard. Everyone was racing to get to the front, to see what was going to happen. I was relaxed about it, sitting about maybe half way up the field, I was happy enough to sit there.”
“And then on the next lap the Great Britain boys went to the front and they just blew it to bits. I just said to myself to hang on as long as I could. I lost maybe two or three seconds over the top of the climb.”
“I got back on again but then on the really steep hill on that second lap, I just blew up there. I settled into a tempo and it ended up that the broom wagon stopped us and took our numbers off us and that was it. I was looking to finish but there was nothing I could do about that.”
“It was harder than I thought it was going to be. I can hang on in climbs but I wouldn’t say I am an out and out climber. It was good, I enjoyed it. Even though it was a struggle, I really did enjoy it. This year I was told I was going for experience.”
Downey was the only one of the three-man junior team to ride the time trial at the Worlds on Tuesday but he believed he had recovered fully in time for today’s race.
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