"I just said 'feck it' and got the jump; if Fitzy can still win races, well then so can I"

Aidan Crowley of DID Dunboyne has clearly come out of the An Post Rás with some very good form, taking the Enfield Grand Prix with a late attack into a headwind at the finish last night, Tuesday.

"I attacked with 700metres to go, I just said feck it," Crowley told stickybottle.

"The bunch stalled and I nailed it. I thought there might be a crash and after being hit by a car last September I wasn't going to get caught up with a crazy bunch sprint. So I just did my own sprint."

Now aged 38 years, Crowley said he was delighted to get his second win of the year.

"If Fitzy can win, so can I," he said referring to the victory in Blarney at the weekend by comeback man Mícheal Fitzgerald of Visitnenagh.ie.

"Someone should have come with me but I guess my gamble paid off. Anyone who came with me would have had to commit when I went for it so far out into a headwind so if we failed, we would have been swallowed up by the bunch. I lasted though, which is cool. Win number two this season at 38, not too bad."

He adds his victory in the 51km handicap event last night to his win at the Bike Worx Series in Mondello Park, Co Kildare, last month.

Crowley was simply too strong for the best of the rest last evening; attacking after Aaron Buggle gave the sprinters a scare with a lone move that very nearly proved to be the winning of the race.

The Rapha Condor JLT man crashed out of the Rás the week before last, but he has already bounced back by taking victory in the Boyne GP near Slane in Co Meath on Sunday.

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Last night he was clearly in the hunt for his second win of the season before he departs for the Tour of Korea. However, he was swallowed up by the charging bunch in the final 1.5km, with Crowley jumping in the closing stages as the bunch stalled.

Promoted by Clonard Road Club, the race was eight laps of a loop of just over 6km for a total race distance of 51km. Over 100 riders signed on, with the organisers giving the A4 bunch of around 40 riders a two minute handicap over the group of around 30 A3s; with the A1 and A2 riders a further two minutes back.

On a perfect night for fast racing, the field merged with three laps remaining. Just over one lap later, Buggle took flight from the bunch on his own and gained a gap of around 15 to 20 seconds. He stayed clear for around 1½ laps, proving the crash that put him out of the Rás has done little to dent his horsepower.

However, with the field behind never letting him get too far it was always going to be tough for one rider to hold off the bunch as it ramped up the speed on the run in to the finish. And as he was reabsorbed Crowley attacked and got a race-winning gap.

Crowley won it well, taking the victory from track man Brendan Whelan (Adamstown), with Paul Kennedy (Swords CC) taking 3^rd. After him came Eugene Murtagh of Lucan CRC, followed by Stephen Halpin (Polygon Sweet Nice) in 5^th and Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveys) in 6^th place.

Enfield Grand Prix - Promoted by Clonard Road Club