While beaten by Sean Downey in the sprint for second place at yesterday's National Championships, Paidi O'Brien said he was very happy with bronze considering he is no longer full time (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Gerard Cromwell
Paidi O’Brien collected his fifth senior road race championship medal yesterday and despite the novelty of being beaten in the gallop to the line for silver, the Osborne Meats-Edge Sports sprinter was happy with his ride on a testing Multyfarnham circuit.
“It was a very fast start because (announcer) Gabriel (Howard) did a few interviews with the lads (Martin, Brammeier, Irvine, Bennett, Shaw etc) which brought them to the front,” said the Banteer man afterwards.
“We had no neutralised zone so it took off very fast and we had the hill straight away. It was flat out.”
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O’Brien soon found himself in the early 10 man move, bridging across to the front group half way around the 19km circuit on the opening lap.
“I was saying to myself that most fellas will get up the hill good the first time but after the hill it would be dangerous.
“There were two moves after the climb. I was in one going into the feed zone and when that got caught the next move went and I went across to it with Roger Aiken.
“That was it then. We were gone.”
Although there were three An Post riders in the move as well as Stephen Clancy of Novo Nordisk and Madison Genesis’ Dominic Jelfs, the rest of the group was made up of domestic riders.
And O’Brien admits he was expecting the likes of Dan Martin, Matt Brammeier, Martyn Irvine and Sam Bennett to make their way across at some point.
O'Brien, second from left, in the breakaway led by Bryan McCrystal and Sean Downey, with Jack Wilson behind (Photo: George Doyle)
“We had 40 seconds at the finish line after the first lap and it grew from there. That was the move for the day.
“Everybody was riding. With three An Posts and two Aquablues in it, there was a lot of interest in keeping it away.
“Mullen did a lot of riding and Sean Downey did a lot too. The group rode well. I suppose I didn’t do an awful lot of the pulling of it away but I did my turns.
“It was always going to be difficult for me at the finish with the team cards; the three and the two. So I was trying to stay as fresh as I could and contribute as much as I could at the same time.”
With three laps to go, the lead group got information that Dan Martin and Damien Shaw were trying to bridge across and the breakaway started attacking each other, with the An Post trio keen to get a man up the road.
“We had a time check on the blackboard of 2’20” and then we had a time check of 1’50”,” says O’Brien.
“We knew from the numbers that it was Dan Martin and Damien Shaw coming. The An Post lads went up the climb hard the third last lap hard and Roger went out the back and then, the second last time up the climb, Downey attacked and I went with him.
“It was all attacking from there. But once Mullen got away then, myself (Bryan) McCrystal and Dominic (Jelfs) rode as well as we could after him.”
Mullen however was not to be caught, the teenager soloing to a fine victory and taking over a minute out of his former breakaway partners.
“I knew we wouldn’t catch Mullen and even if we did, we still had the other two An Post lads with us. So it was just a matter of trying to stay ahead of Dan and Shaw coming into the finish.”
After spending the whole race out front, the remainder of the group came within 15 seconds of being caught by the chasing duo on the line.
“We were doing a lot of messing around. There was jumping and stalling and fellas were tired.
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“I kind of guessed we’d make it, because nobody would have liked to be caught with 3km to go.
“There were still two medals on offer and there were U23 medals on offer too. It was in everyone’s interest to try and stay clear to the finish.”
O'Brien took bronze behind Sean Downey in the sprint from the remainder of the breakaway group.
On paper the fastest finisher in the group, O’Brien was hoping for a silver medal but was caught unawares by a late attack by Mullen’s teammate and former U23 champion Jack Wilson. He was then beaten to the line by another An Post man, Sean Downey.
“I was fairly confident that I’d win the sprint for second but Wilson attacked with about a kilometre to go and took about two or three bike lengths. I had to close that and caught him with about 500m to go.
“After maybe a 100km race that would have been fine but I haven’t done too many 170km races in the last year so that kind of took the sting out of my sprint.
“Downey is in great shape this year. I think rather than being a sprint for the medals it was whoever had the fitness left.”
O’Brien has a tremendous record at the national championships. He was won the title at every level from U11 to U23 and now has two silvers and three bronze medals in the senior championships.
“I was delighted to get a medal. I haven’t got one since Nicolas Roche won in Dunboyne, so it was nice to get on the podium again, especially as what you might call an amateur rider.
“The last few medals I got, I would have been full time.
“I had good legs but An Post were always going to win, with the strength of their guys and the numbers and I think they deserved the win.
“Maybe if Dan or Sam were in the break, or a few more neutrals, it might have played better for me. But then with the condition I had and the last month’s preparation, if you’d told me two weeks ago I’d be third, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“I’m very happy with bronze.”
O'Brien on the podium yesterday just about to received his bronze medal. He has won every national title from U11 to U23 and while the senior title has eluded him, he has five senior medals (Photo: Sean Rowe)
O’Brien had special praise too for Lakeside Wheelers, who put on a fantastic display in a very well run event.
“I think every year you say it’s the best one. Clonmel was a great championship. Last year was a great championship, but Jesus, yesterday was something else.
“Coming through the finish every lap, it was a wall of noise. The circuit was extremely testing. A climber could have won it, a time triallist did win it and a sprinter could have won it.
“I think the Mullingar club did a great job with the circuit. There was so much new black tar on the road that there wasn’t one bump on the circuit. The club should be very proud of the show they put on.”
He was also happy with yesterday’s victor, 19-year-old Ryan Mullen.
“It’s nice to have one of the boys racing on the continent with the jersey. Mullen is up and coming and you wouldn’t know where he’d end up next year.
“He could end up with one of the top pro teams as Irish champion, which would be great for Irish cycling.”
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