Matt Brammeier says tomorrow's national road race championship course is similar to the one used in 2011 (above), where he narrowly beat Dan Martin in a photo finish to claim his second title
By Gerard Cromwell
Defending champion Matt Brammeier is hoping to shake off recent health problems to add an unprecedented fifth national road race title to his palmares in Multyfarnham tomorrow.
After a solid start to the year, where he claimed the king of the mountains jersey at the Tour of Langkawi, the Synergy Baku rider drifted off the radar for a while.
But a fifth placed finish in Thursday’s time trial means he is in decent form ahead of tomorrow’s title race.
“I’ve had a few health problems for the last few months really,” says the 29-year-old.
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“I’ve had a bit of a shit time; been up and down, and been trying to work out what’s gone wrong.
“I’ve just found out I have a massive infection on one of my teeth so I need to have that taken out on Monday. It’s affected me a little bit but I think I’ll be alright.
“I rode in Slovakia and Slovenia in the last month. Slovakia was pretty good. I went into that fresh and had a few good chances. I was close to getting up there on a few stages but had a bit of bad luck coming into the finish a few times.
“Slovenia, I was just using for training. I trained very hard going into it and just kind of rode through it so I didn’t put myself in a box coming out of it. Everything’s going well. I think I’m in good shape but we’ll see how it goes Sunday.”
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The winning escape in Clonmel in 2012 from which Brammeier prevailed: Left to right; Bammeier, Roche, Lavery and Irvine (Photo: www.blackumbrella.ie)
After a recon ride of the circuit on Friday, Brammeier liked what he saw and compares it to the course he won on in 2011.
“I’ve had a little ride around the circuit and it looks pretty good," he said of the circuit chosen by promoting club Lakeside Mullingar.
“It’s pretty similar to Emyvale, with a pretty similar finish. It’s a tough little circuit, with a lot of ups and downs so I’m happy with it. I like it.”
While he has been a lone wolf in prior years, Brammeier will have Synergy Baku teammates Conor McConvey and last year’s runner up Philip Lavery to back him up in his quest for an unprecedented fifth Irish elite title tomorrow.
Winning in Clonmel two yeas ago; his finger to his lip to silence critics around the time of his missing out on Olympic selection (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
However, both would also take their own chances, with Lavery having done very well here in recent years. He took the U23 title and the elite bronze - to winner Brammeier and silver medalist Nicolas Roche - in 2012 and was bested by only Brammeier in the two-up sprint that decided last year's title in Carlingford.
Brammeier knows he will be up against it, with Dan Martin, Philip Deignan, Sam Bennett and a host of top domestic riders itching to rip the shamrock jersey off his back.
“I think it’s going to be the best field we’ve had for a long time. It should make it a hard race and a good race hopefully.
“It’s hard to go into a race like the championships with a tactic unless there’s a specific climb or a cobbled section or something like that.
“Hopefully having a team here will help in the later stages of the race. We’ll just have to see where we are, coming into the last couple of laps, and then we can use each other really.
“You just have to race with your head and there’s not really a plan. You just race smart and hope for the best.”
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