Andy Maguire has taken the gold medal in the elite men’s
race at the National Criterium Championships this evening in Co Galway.
The Spellman Dublin Port rider was active off the front
throughout the contest on Pallas Karting Track and when the winning three-man
move went clear he was in it.
Maguire went into the closing two laps with Darnell Moore
(Vitus Pro Cycling), who took silver behind the new champion.
The unluckiest rider on the night had to be Mitchell
McLaughlin; the Zappi Racing rider crashing out of the three-man move when he
looked assured of at least bronze.
At the finish it was Leo Doyle (TWC TEMPO Veldhoven) who
came through to take the final step on the podium.
After a very fast start, with the race lined out from the
gun, Maguire decided to try and get off the front but after a brief escape he
was recaptured.
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Once he was caught last year’s winner Fintan Ryan
(Kingspan Track Project) took it up and put in several attacks, as did JB
Murphy (Arabay) and Kevin McCambridge (Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling).
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However, their efforts came to nothing and when they were
back in the fold McLaughlin jumped clear and pulled out a decent gap on his
own.
Sensing the danger, Maguire and Moore jumped across to
the lone leader to form what would prove to be the winning three-man move.
Those three held a gap of about 20 seconds for most of
the remainder of the race, before opening up a slightly more comfortable lead
in the closing stages.
However, at the start of the penultimate lap McLaughlin
slip out on a corner and that crash wiped out his advantage over the chasers.
That left Maguire and Moore to fight it out for gold and
silver; Maguire taking a flier a long distance from the line and once he opened
a small gap on Moore he managed to keep it all the way to the chequered flag.
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