Dean Harvey today added the senior men's Irish cyclocross title to the U23 road race crown he claimed last year, thus confirming himself as the dominant rider on the home scene through the 2022-23 season. While the 19-year-old Trinity Racing rider face formidable opposition today at the front, he never looked like faltering after going into an early lead at the National Cyclocross Championships.
By the finish, after six laps of racing on the McCrystal Track in Jenkinstown, Co Louth, had well over a minute on his nearest rivals. That last year's champion Chris Dawson (Dawson Racing) and Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon), who won Strade Bianche di Romagna(1.2U) last year, were chasing him all the way simply underlined the status of his victory.
Harvey was really impressive on the road last year, with wins in the Shay Elliott Classic and gold in the U23 road race at the National Road Championships, among many other fine results. He gained selection onto the U23 national team for several international assignments, including Tour de l'Avenir, and claimed the climbers' classification in Rás Tailteann.
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His win today delivered his first elite Irish title and proved just how far he has come in the last 12 months as the teenager finishing 4th at the nationals last year some six minutes down on winner Dawson.
Harvey's gold medal today also caps an incredible cyclocross campaign that has marked him out as one watch in the year ahead on the roads with Trinity Racing given the rate of progress he is making. Known for letting his legs do the talking, Harvey was struck a modest tone when summing up his performance today.
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"I'm very pleased, I thought I did well," he said of race that saw the conditions changed by hail just before the start and rain as the event progress. "With the conditions, it was a really tricky race, I'm happy nothing much went wrong."
Harvey won all four rounds of the Cyclocross National Series this season, though Rafferty pushed him very close in the final race of the series. Given the progress made by Rafferty, former Irish junior cyclocross champion, in recent weeks, it appeared he was on course to challenge Harvey for gold today.
While it didn't quite turn out that way, Harvey said he knew Rafferty would have to be watched today.
"I knew he'd be there, at least for the start," he said. "I started very fast but kept it controlled and rode my own pace for a couple of laps and the gap went out. And I just kept doing what I was doing; made sure I made my mistakes
"The rain made it a lot tricker. The course was quite nice in practice this morning and then just before the race there was a big rain shower and that completely changed this but I think it made it better for me so it was no problem. It's been a good 'cross season and now I've just got the World Cup in Benidorm next weekend. And that's maybe it for 'cross. then I just get ready for road season."
