Galway teenager Caimin Muldoon of Aquablue, leading, said it was a steep learning curve to ride Rás Mumhan last weekend, above, but one he benefited greatly from (Photo: Brendan Slattery – TheBigLittleBikeShop)
By Brian Canty
Caimin Muldoon took the biggest win of his career yesterday, winning the Davis Cup in Cong, Co. Mayo from a very strong field.
The Loughrea teenager is in his first season out of the junior ranks and judging by his win, he showed he’ll be a force to be reckoned with as an U23 this year.
The fourth round of the national road series attracted the likes of teammate Sean Lacey (Aquablue), a team of iTap men, Paddy Clarke (Ballina CC), David Brennan (Castlebar CC) as well as former world junior road race champion Mark Scanlon (North West MTB).
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But it was Mark Shannon (Burren CC) who pushed the winner closest as they sprinted into Cong after 110 kilometres of hard racing.
“It was just constant attacking from everyone all day,” said Muldoon of how the race played out.
“It was a small bunch coming the line and I made an attack with about 1.5k to go.
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“Mark rode across and attacked me but I caught him with about 800 metres to go and just drilled it to the finish.
“As soon as I attacked at 1.5k to go I knew it was all or nothing but I really only knew about 50 metres from the line that I would win.
“I haven’t won a race since I was U16 so it was a super feeling to come home first like that,” he added.
He did win Rás Maigh Eo last month but didn’t actually claim any of the three stages, not that he was bothered.
“I just put it down to a good winter for once,” he explained of his good form.
“I seem to have come out of Rás Mumhan with some good legs. I learnt a lot in the space of one weekend there.
“I was a bit annoyed to not be in the front group some days but by the last stage I was getting the hang of it.
“It’s great having so many experienced riders on the team and I was definitely happy with that race overall.
“I'm only 18 so to be in the break on the last stage was nice.”
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