By Brian Canty
After Ryan Mullen's 7th place in the U23 time trial (TT) today, Monday, and Marcus Christie taking 28th in the same event, we profile the riders who'll be in action for Team Ireland through the week at the World Road Championships in Florence, Italy.
Next up is young Mark Downey, the sole representative for Ireland in the junior men's TT tomorrow morning, Tuesday.
But we also have other quality juniors at these championships, as well as really good elite men and women donning the green of Ireland; here's a look at them:
Junior Men
Eddie Dunbar - Junior men's road race on Saturday
Eddie Dunbar has had an amazing year, but was disappointed with his showing in the European Championships. He's looking forward to his ride at the Worlds on Saturday.
One of the most talented riders to emerge from this country in recent times, the flyweight O’Leary's Stone Kanturk first-year junior rider has taken a string of very impressive wins this year, such as the Aquablue Classic, the Coachford Classic and the Dungarvan GP as well as two stages and the overall title at the prestigious Junior Tour and the National TT Champi0nships.
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It’s no surprise to see him lead the team this Saturday. Dunbar will love the parcours in Florence as it is hilly and each of the wins mentioned above – save for the TT win at the Nationals - were on hilly courses, where he won them with blistering attacks on the steepest part of the race.
He was 26th at the Europeans in June but admitted his positioning that day was “shocking”. He’ll have learned an awful lot from that experience and maybe even enough to squeeze into the top 15 or 20.
Dylan Foley - Junior men's road race on Saturday
Dylan Foley is a quality rider against the clock and on the road and it will be interesting to see how he does in the junior road race on Saturday (Photo: www.blackumbrella.ie)
The second year Junior from Cork rode with the Nicolas Roche Performance Team this year and enjoyed a fabulous season, taking the Silver Pail GP, the Carrick Cup, the Cycleways Cup and the Gorey 3-Day amongst others. But the performance that probably earned him his spot on the Irish team was his support riding for Dunbar at the Junior Tour where he literally time-trialed his way around Clare after the latter had taken the yellow jersey.
Foley is a powerhouse of a man and only knows riding from the front, something he will need to be able and willing to do this Saturday. He is a phenomenal tester and rode the European Championships last year as well as representing Ireland at the Track World Championships in Glasgow last month.
He’s coached and mentored by the astute Timmy Barry, so he won’t want for knowledge or fitness. He'll be key to how the team perform.
Mark Downey - Junior men's TT on Tuesday and road race on Saturday
Mark Downey put in a great ride at the World Track Championships in Glasgow last month and he'll be looking for a strong showing in the Worlds TT tomorrow, Tuesday, and in the road race on Saturday.
Another Nicolas Roche Performance Team man who enjoyed a superb season, the highlight of which was lapping the field in his heat of the points race in the Junior World Track Championships. He was 15th in the final - some achievement for a first year junior with six weeks training on the track.
The Banbridge man is from good stock; his father Seamus a former Olympian and his brother Sean a second-year professional with An Post Chain Reaction. Downey won Rás Dun na nGall this year and wore the yellow jersey at the Junior Tour after winning the opening stage, where he was second on the final overall.
Like Foley, he is a brute against the clock and though he had to settle for second to Dunbar in the National Championships, he knows he underperformed that day in Omagh. He will ride the TT in Florence on Tuesday aiming for a top 25.
Elite Women
Olivia Dillon - Elite women's road race on Saturday
Olivia Dillon has just won An Post Rás na mBan and is one of two Irish riders in the elite women's road race this week; a strong and very experienced competitor she will undoubtedly give a good account of herself as she always does (Photo: www.blackumbrella.ie)
The US-based professional took her third Rás na mBan title last week and has left nothing to chance in pursuit of a good result in Florence. The racing season ended last month in America but she has completed stage races in France and Belgium trying to fine-tune her form. It’s always been her stated goal to perform well at the World Championships and now she has a golden chance.
She can time trial – as four National titles will attest to. She can also get in the break and go long – like she did to win Rás na mBan this year. And she’ll have improved her climbing, having raced some of the hilliest stage races in the US, this season. Her ride in Florence on Saturday cannot come quick enough.
Melanie Spath - Elite women's road race on Saturday
Like Olivia Dillon, Mel Spath is a US-based pro now and has made the two-rider team for the women's road race. She's the current National Road Race Champion and it should be very interesting to see how she gets on in Florence.
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Finished runner-up to Dillon at Rás na mBan on countback to indicate she’s also bang on form like her teammate for these championships. She can also time-trial well - runner-up in the last two National TT Championships - and won her second road race title this year.
Spath has been based in the US also this year, mainly racing the crit scene and how that kind of explosiveness could be key this weekend. She’s a very useful climber, can sprint better than most and crucially has developed a very good racing brain, making all the moves that count. It’s only a pity they haven’t one or two more teammates for this Saturday, but she still has the talent to be right in the mix.
Elite Men
Daniel Martin - Elite men's road race on Sunday
Can Dan Martin recover from crashing out of the Vuelta and make a serious assault on the men's World Championships road race tomorrow week? (Photo: Gary McIlroy)
If Dan Martin does nothing for the rest of his career, it will have been a success after what has already been a truly remarkable season for the Garmin-SHARP rider. Not alone has he won a stage of the Tour de France, the first Irish rider in over two decades to do so, but he has won Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the queen stage of the Volta A Catalunya, and that race outright, while also netting a superb fourth in Fleche-Wallone.
What have they in common? Yes, hills, and lots of them.
Martin has never disguised his love for the Ardennes Classics and Sunday’s race is very, very similar in nature and parcours to one; long, hilly, a wearing down process and survival of the fittest. He should be right there at the sharp end of the race, provided he has fully recovered from his horror crash at the Vuelta, and more importantly, revved his engine sufficiently this past week in the Tour of Britain.
Not only is he one of the most talented bike riders in the world, but he’s also one of the most tactically astute. Sunday’s winner will need to be the latter, as well as the former. Martin ticks the boxes.
Nicolas Roche -Elite men's TT on Wednesday and road race Sunday
Nicolas Roche had a ripper at the Vuelta; taking a stage win, holding all of the classification jerseys and taking 5th overall; what can he do in Florence?
He had been operating in a room with a glass ceiling for some time with Ag2r La Mondiale, before moving to SaxoBank-Tinkoff this year for what can best be described as a breakthrough year. Winning the second stage of the Vuelta – his first Grand Tour stage win, wearing the leader’s jersey as well as every other jersey - will have Roche’s confidence sky-high for next weekend.
And it’s that confidence that has seen him decide to ride the Worlds TT on Wednesday. In fact, that discipline is where he has made the greatest improvements this year - as evidenced by a brilliant eighth place in the Tour of the Med in February and more significantly, taking sixth at the Vuelta A Espana (11th Stage) which saw him move into second overall.
If he ends up riding for Dan Martin on Sunday, he has plenty of experience of such a role having done it throughout the Tour for Alberto Contador and for Roman Kreuziger at Clasica San Sebastien.
Sam Bennett - Elite men's road race on Sunday
Sam Bennett was 10th in the U23 World Championship road race in Holland last year and rides his first elite Worlds race on Sunday week after having a fantastic Tour of Britain, taking victory in one stage and 2nd on another.
The 22-year-old is coming off the back of his best ever week on the bike, having won stage five of the Tour of Britain, while finishing runner-up on Monday’s stage two and Sunday's finale to indicate he’s in the form of his life. Took two stages of the An Post Rás in May – into Listowel and Skerries - before notching fourth and seventh respectively in 1.1 ranked races (Schaal Sels-Merksem and the Dutch Food Valley Classic) in the space of a fortnight.
He also won a pro kermesse in Kortemark at the end of last month.
The Carrick-on-Suir man has always had speed but in getting over the leg-snapping Caerphilly mountain last Wednesday with some of the best climbers in the world, he showed he also had strength – and most crucially of all - the confidence to believe he can mix it with the world’s best. The bigger the stage, the better he performs and the World Championships is where he belongs.
Matt Brammeier - Elite men's road race on Sunday
Matt Brammeier has ridden the time trial and road race for Ireland at previous Worlds and this time takes his place in the road team. He is in good form and has told us he is ready to get stuck in to aid the team. He took his first win in Belgium midweek and seems in good form (Photo: Gary McIlroy)
He makes his third visit to the World Championships and is coming off the back of his first win on foreign soil last Wednesday in a pro kermesse in Belgium. There he dominated the race from start to finish and looks to be in the best shape he’s been in all season. He collected his fourth National title back in June but his race programme isn’t what he’d have wished for.
Still, he has ridden the likes of the Tour of California – being ultra-aggressive there and almost taking a stage win - while also managing to escape in a number of early-season semi-Classics. He’ll love the style of racing this weekend, and will relish the role of domestique, something he has done for HTC-Highroad and Omega Pharma Quick Step in the past.
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