Mark Shannon on his late scare after 30km solo ride to victory
Mark Shannon, left, won the An Caisleán Nua Classic in Limerick on Sunday with a 30-kilometre solo attack. The Burren CC man had just metres to spare on runner-up Paul Kennedy (Photo: John Coleman)
By Brian Canty
Mark Shannon was a surprise winner of the An Caisleán Nua Classic in Limerick on Sunday when he beat a stellar field on a hard course.
Second to him was one of the men of the season so far, Paul Kennedy of the promoting club.
Next home were Cathal Moynihan (Tralee Manor West Hotel-iBike) and Páidí O’Brien (Unattached); simply underlining the quality of the victory for Shannon.
“It my first win since I was in A4 and that was four years now so definitely my best win,” said the winner.
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The 121-kilometre contest was five laps of a lumpy circuit and a break of five escaped on the first lap.
Shannon missed that move but showed real strength to bridge across on his own.
“Once I got there I started working with them to open up a gap,” he continued.
“We worked well for the next three laps but weren't getting any time gaps so we didn't really know what was going on behind.”
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After 30km on his own this is what it came down to; Mark Shannon burying himself to the line to hold off the charge of Paul Kennedy (Photo: JohnColeman)
With 35 kilometres to go the momentum went out of the break and their speed started to drop.
He attacked at the bottom of the only real climb in the hope someone would come with him because there was still 30 kilometres to the finish.
“But nobody did so I just put my head down and gave it everything I had," he said.
“On the last lap at the top of the climb with 5k to go I was given a time gap of 47 seconds. So I eased up a little on the run-in to the finish thinking I had a big enough gap.
“But the gap was actually only 20 seconds. And just after turning the last corner coming into the finish with 1k to go I looked back.
"I saw about 12 riders rounding the corner all lined out so I knew they were going hard.
“I thought I was going to get caught before the line. But I just buried myself for that last kilometre and managed to hold on by a few bike lengths.”
Enjoying his racing
Shannon said he has no plans to do the An Post Rás now despite his seemingly good form.
Instead, he will race for fun and maybe do the Suir Valley Three Day.
“I've no big targets, I just want to enjoy racing as much as I can. I only do a few hours training every week so I can't really compete with the top lads here.
“But I'll do as many Sunday races as I can, including the nationals and hopefully ride the Suir Valley as well.”
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