Conor Dunne had a breakout year in 2015, riding consistently well on the Continent before his head-turning displays in the Tour of Britain earned him a slot on the Irish team for the UCI World Road Championships in America at the end of September. No sooner had the flag dropped in that race that he was up the road (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
One of the country’s top riders in 2015, Conor Dunne, has said he’s had his confidence boosted from his achievements last year and is hopeful of becoming even stronger this coming season.
The Irish elite international joined UK-based JLT-Condor Cycles at the end of last year.
And having spent the winter in Australia with them, he feels he can really hit the ground running when his season kicks off in a matter of weeks.
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“The winter has been good; I got some good base miles in and since the New Year I've been out in Australia at the team house," he said of the enviable set-up the squad has put in place for its charges.
“The plan was to put in a longer training block to hopefully set me up well for when I come back to Europe.
“It’s been a different approach to what I've been used to with a lot more specific work each day, so hopefully it pays off.”
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The former An Post Chainreaction man starts at the Tour of Taiwan at the beginning of March; the five-day event beginning on the 6th of next month.
That will be followed by the Tour Normandie from March 21st to 27th and Tour de Loir et Cher from April 13th to 17th.
A spot on the Tour de Yorkshire team, at the end of April into the start of May, and for the An Post Rás are other big goals of Dunne's.
Needless to say, making the selection for the Tour of Britain in September is also a huge target.
“Obviously you have to keep performing to get the starts but I’ll really be gunning for the bigger races like Yorkshire and Britain which I know will be some of the bigger targets for the team as well.
“But last year gave me confidence to believe I can be there. It was a good long season with a lot of racing and I had my moments.
“I'm just really aiming to build on that now and hopefully, come back stronger this year. I've put in a good winter so I don't see why that can't be the case.”
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