Conor Dunne enters his second season with the An Post Chainreaction team this year. The former Irish U23 international is keen to put a disastrous 2014 behind him and really make an impact in 2015 (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
More gym work, hard training and harder recovery are what Conor Dunne believes will bring about a leap in his performances in 2015 after an indifferent debut season with An Post Chainreaction last year.
The 6’ 8” Irishman had very little to shout about after an injury-blighted 2014.
He struggled to really hit his straps and poor form was a feature of a year he's keen to forget.
However, his stage win in the Rás in 2013 and an excellent ride at the Kreiz Breizh Elites stage race in France last August, where he was one of the animators of the race and took the climbers' jersey, are proof of his undoubted class.
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Dunne in the green of Ireland in the U23 race at the World Road Race Championships last September in Spain (Photo: Joyce Ghijs)
He took the positives from last year, chief among those has been the experience gained from what he termed “a big jump up” to Continental racing from the amateur ranks.
“I’m feeling pretty good now, I’ve had a good winter and I’m looking forward to getting going,” said the 2013 An Post Rás stage winner and yellow jersey wearer at the team's training camp in Calpe, Spain.
“I’ve been here since the 7th of December, had the first team training camp with An Post Chainreaction.
“I spent all Christmas here and I’m on the second camp this week so I’ve been able to have some really good training.
“I’ve been sticking to the plan, not doing anything crazy and just been consistent with my training.”
The 6' 8" giant that is Conor Dunne has been based in Spain since early December and with a big block of training behind him he’s looking forward to the season with optimism (Photo: Sirotti)
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Dunne put in a similarly huge winter 12 months ago.
But when he got sick early in the season he struggled to get over it, crammed training in when he wasn’t 100 per cent right and that set him further back.
“It was only at the nationals in June when I started to feel myself,” he conceded.
“So the motivation is really high for this year because of that.
“I want to get some results this year, I want to give it everything and see what happens.
“We’ve a lot of strong riders, we’re gelling well as a group and there’s a really good atmosphere.
“So it’s all there for me, we’ve plenty of races to make an impact in so hopefully I can show what I’m worth.
Dunne during a 30km lone attack at the Kreiz Breizh Elites stage race in France last August when he was caught close to the finish by a four-man chase group.
“I just have to remember to be smart and not panic. This is a big jump up (from amateur).
"You really have to look after yourself, train hard and recover harder, take a few decisions to maybe ease back at certain points and the times you train hard you really have to train hard.
“You really need be on top of your game if you want to make any kind of a difference.”
Dunne is a quality tester and though there are few chances to show his talent in that discipline, he won’t neglect it either.
“There’ll be the odd stage race where maybe if I was in a good GC position I could jump up a bit using the time-trial so I’ll definitely keep ticking over on it.
“For me, I just want to be aggressive and see where it takes me."
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