Mitchell McLaughlin (26) has celebrated his first win of the season, at the Travers Engineering Annaclone GP, and did so in the colours of new team, UK outfit Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli.
"I couldn't believe it, it's been a long time coming," he said of finally getting a big win after developing into a top tier rider in recent seasons but perhaps just lacking a bit of luck in landing a big win.
"I wasn't sure how good my legs would be today, maybe I wouldn't feel great after a big camp and I'd say with a bit of freshening up I'll be a lot better," he said of decamping to Spain since early January.
And that stint since the start of the year was followed by another long period training in the sunshine in the latter part of 2024 as he readied for this season.
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"I spent four months Spain, more or less; November, December and then January and February. So it definitely paid off, but at the same time you're never sure how you're going to go in the first races.
"I was 3rd (at the Annaclone GP), riding across gaps myself in 2023. Today I just played it a wee bit smarter and I had enough in the legs for the sprint."
Saturday's 2025 edition of Annaclone GP, run by Banbridge CC, was run over six laps, for a total distance of 77km, with the C1 scratch group chasing the C2s for five minutes. McLaughlin was active from the start in trying to split the scratch riders when a cooperative effort was not taking shape.
Though the group split, it then regrouped and the C2s were caught by around the halfway point of the contest. With the race together, McLaughlin attacked through the start-finish area "to see how everyone was".
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While he got away in a small group of four, they were caught but he was off the front again on the climb, joined by Lindsay Watson (Powerhouse Sport) and Ciaran Maguire (Dan Morrissey Pissei CT), along with a number of others.
While they were also caught, McLaughlin went again in a move that formed the winning breakaway. Watson was there again, again with Bryan McCrystal (Bear Group), Peter McLean (Velo Café Magasin) and Kevin McCambridge (Inspired Cycling).
They rode for the final two laps together, with Watson suffering a slow puncture and losing his place as a result. Though McCrystal, clearly going well again, attacked in the latter stages, the group came back together, with McLaughlin winning it in the sprint.
McLaughlin, formerly with All human-VeloRevolution, said while he had a very good season in 2023, his commitment to the Paralympic team - where he is tandem pilot - took over last year as they qualified for, and then competed in, the Paris Games.
"It was full focus on Paris, which was great, but it meant you didn't get much road racing in last year," he said. "So I'm looking forward to this year, I'm signed with Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli and we'll do the Premier Calendar races in Britain."
McLaughlin said the team would also ride Dornan Rás Mumhan as well as Rás Tailteann, with one of his team mates, Tom Martin, winning a stage of the Rás last year riding for the team.
He added the process of going through qualifying for, and competing in, the Paralympics helped develop him as a rider. However, he said the tandem effort, which was "full on" rather than "stop start" was not the same as competing in open road races, where attacks and constant changes of speed were the norm.
McLaughlin said he was again committed to the Paracycling squad this year but would race at home in coming weeks as much as he could until he goes away for the next national team camp in late March.
