Cameron McIntyre is the latest top young rider off the Banbridge CC production line; his TT ride in the Lakeland Two Day keeping him in touch to pounce for yellow on the last stage (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)
Cameron McIntyre upstaged many more seasoned riders by winning a fabulous final stage and overall at the Lakeland Two-Day on Sunday.
The Banbridge CC man went into the final leg in fifth place, three seconds down on race leader Jake Gray (NRPT-Magnet.ie).
But he managed to give those ahead of him on the general standings the slip by jumping away in the closing kilometres, winning by 24 seconds and taking the yellow jersey with 21 seconds to spare.
It’s the biggest win of the 16-year-old’s life and he could hardly believe it himself.
Advertisement
He said the plan was to stay in contention all weekend and leave it as late as possible to make what he hoped would be his race-winning move.
“The first stage; everything stayed together,” he said of Saturday’s opened won in a bunch sprint by emerging rider Gray.
McIntyre wasn't afraid to take a chance and hurt himself on Sunday's final stage; his hit out for home proving too much for the others to handle (Photo: Hannah Ward)
“I was sort of worried after 15 miles because I had bad legs. But five miles from the finish I started to get a bit of speed and started to feel better.
“I’m not a sprinter but managed fifth in the same time as the leader so I knew everything was to play for on the Sunday.”
With a morning time-trial to negotiate he knew it was a case of not losing too much time.
“I went into the TT thinking I wasn’t much of a tester because I don’t put out that much power,” McIntyre said.
“But I gritted my teeth and gave it 100 per cent and ended up just three seconds off,” he said of the test also won by yellow jersey Gray.
“I was happy enough with that because I’ve never beaten him in a TT in my life.”
McIntyre is best known for his off road exploits but his ride at the weekend says Banbridge looks to have yet another bright road prospect on its hands (Photo: Toby Watson)
Related News
Going into the third stage McIntyre knew what he needed to do; get up the road without the men ahead of him overall.
“I had to stay up near the front and stay out of trouble,” he said.
“I covered a few moves at the start and then I got away in a break but that only stuck for about 15 minutes.
“The boys in the break only rode for about five miles and stopped and I wasn’t going to ride myself into the ground for them.
“So that got brought back and a few more got up the road but nothing stuck.”
And after he took the first KOH of the day; to win that classification he focussed on the final ramp to the finish.
Taking stage 3 and lifting the final yellow jersey from the shoulders of the man who had won stages 1 and 2; Jake Gray of NRPT-Magnet.ie (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)
“With about 5k to go and there was a bit of a stall behind, then there was a downhill and at the bottom of that the climb started.
“I was about 4k out, nipped out of the group with a really hard kick, looked back after a couple of minutes and a motorbike came up and told me I had 20 seconds.
“I knew I was gaining time, and then the last kilometre I just went pedal to the metal; riding my max.
“I saw myself going up the climb near my house so I just kept riding and as soon as I saw the 500m to go I could feel the win.
“It was the best feeling I’ve had. I said to myself ‘this is why I train and go out in the rain and the snow’.
“It’s even more special because this is only my first ever season on the road. I’m very unknown and I wasn’t a marked man. That helped me.”
Topics
