Lindsay Watson said he was delighted to win the Galway
Classic at the weekend, describing it as the best race of the year.
The event is the only road race on the Irish calendar with
gravel sectors and Watson won the inaugural edition on Sunday.
The field of starters was impacted a little by the fact
the latest round of the National Road Series, in the shape of the Mullingar GP,
was promoted on the same day.
However, Watson has been one of the men of the season to
date and irrespective of the line-up in Galway he would have gone into it was
one of the hottest favourites.
In the end he ran out the winner by about two minutes
from Darragh McCarter (Donegal Bay CC), with Richard Maes (Strata
3-VeloRevolution) completing the podium.
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Tim O’Regan (Team Worc) was next, in 4th place, followed by Eoghan McArdle Ruane of promoting club Galway Bay CC and Mark Quigley (Strata 3-VeloRevolution).
Watson told stickybottle the opening 20km was very
competitive, with every move being chased down hard.
“I tried a few times to let breaks go with the intention
of riding over but I felt like anytime I made it across there was a change of
pace in the bunch to bring it back,” he said.
“Eventually a small group of five went clear,” he said of
Maes, McCarter, O’Regan, Quigley and Declan Egan (Kingston Wheelers).
Watson attacked the group he was in and went after the
breakaway, catching them and then driving the pace up the Knockroe climb.
However, his efforts to help the breakaway pull out a
clear gap were halted for a period when it emerged his younger brother, Aaron,
was coming across solo.
Lindsay Watson opted to wait and the brothers then made contact with the breakaway, making for a seven-man move.
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“We all worked together until we hit the first gravel sector through Moyne Park,” Watson said of the first of 10 sectors.
“The gravel there was loose and very slippy in places. Myself and Richie set the pace high with the intention of getting rid of a couple of riders.
“In the next three five star sectors position was always going to be important,” he said, adding himself and Maes continued to plough on.
Coming out of the Arenberg sector the breakaway was down
to just three; Watson, McCarter and Maes.
By that stage a combination of the intensity of the racing and mechanicals on the rough ground had taken care of the others.
However, while the leading trio worked hard to maintain their advantage over a large group of chasers, McCarter suffered a second puncture with about 25km to go.
And from that point the race looked to be between Maes and Watson; the last men standing from the initial breakaway.
“I had good legs and felt fairly confident I could shake Richie with a late attack,” said Watson of his plans.
“Unfortunately Richie suffered with a loose connection on
his Di2,” he said of Maes being stuck in the 54 X 12.
And while Watson hung back to see if Maes could get the
problem sorted, he pressed on after a period as there were chasers back the
road.
He rode the last 20km solo to take the win, with McCarter
coming through for 2nd and the unfortunate Maes claiming 3rd.
“It was definitely the most fun I’ve had on the road bike in a long time and hands down the best race of the year to date,” said Watson.
- For full results of all races at the Galway Classic please follow this link.
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