A very impressive Nicolas Roche takes victory in the men's road race at the National Championships in Kilcullen, Co Kildare (Photo: Toby Watson)
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has won the Irish national championships for the second year in his career after claiming a thrilling contest in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare today.
The Team Sky man was in the break of eight all day that became five on the penultimate lap and from that he attacked and soloed to a marvellous win.
Second across the line was Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data) with Michael O'Loughlin (Team Wiggins) rounding out the podium while also winning the U23 gold medal.
McConvey was fourth while defending champion Damien Shaw (AN Post Chain Reaction) was fifth across the line having been in the break all day.
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In the eight-man break were Daire Feeley (Team iTap), Shaw (An Post Chain Reaction), Eddie Dunbar (Axeon Hagens Berman), Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data), Mark Downey (VC Toucy), Connor McConvey (An Post Chain Reaction) and Michael O’Loughlin (Team WIGGINS).
Roche’s win follows his time-trial triumph on Thursday night where he edged Dunbar and Ryan Mullen (Cannondale).
More later.
How it unfolded
The first break of the day featured many of the big names on the start-line with Ryan Mullen (Cannondale), ), Nicolas Roche(Team Sky), Eddie Dunbar (Axeon Hagens Berman), Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data), Michael O'Loughlin (Team WIGGINS), Conor Hennebry (Aquablue) and Darragh O'Mahony (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC) present.
Brammeier leads from Roche and Irish amateur young gun Daire Feeley up the road (Photo: Toby Watson)
However, the bunch was having none of it and they were recaptured before long.
Immediately, Roche, Dunbar and James Curry (Banbridge CC) made a break but they too were reabsorbed by a lightning fast peloton.
But then came the big move of the day when seven riders broke clear and this time it was Daire Feeley (Team iTap), Nicolas Roche(Team Sky), Damien Shaw (An Post Chain Reaction), Eddie Dunbar (Axeon Hagens Berman), James Curry (Banbridge CC), Cathal Moynihan (Manor West Hotel, Tralee/iBike) and Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data) who went away.
Moynihan and Curry were distanced but Mark Downey (VC Toucy) managed to infiltrate the move, clearly showing superb form from his win in France last weekend.
A spill in the bunch as well as traffic on the road disrupted things behind and that brief lull allowed the leaders gain a few precious seconds.
A chase group featuring Connor McConvey (An Post Chain Reaction)and Michael O’Loughlin (Team WIGGINS) formed and they proceeded to work into the gap the leaders up ahead had forged.
They would merge after a ferocious pursuit to leave eight up front.
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Mullen grits his teeth in tough conditions in Co Kildare. It was a weekend he hoped to take more from, but a crash in Holland last week did not help his preparations (Photo: Toby Watson)
All the while, the advantage grew and grew and by the second lap their advantage was up to around 50 seconds on the bunch with a chasing quintet of Jack Wilson (An Post Chain Reaction), Mark Dowling (ASEA-Wheelworx), Darragh O’Mahony (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC), Chris McGlinchey (Chain Reaction Cycles) and Ryan Mullen (Cannondale) around 30 seconds back.
The leaders stretched their margin to around 1’30” by the next lap with the five chasers roughly midway between bunch and break.
The break’s lead eventually went over two minutes but they were momentarily disrupted when Brammeier punctured, though he managed to get a spare front wheel and he rejoined the leaders before long.
The chasing five stayed honest and held the eight leaders to less than a minute but one sensed those up ahead had another gear – and would use it when the time came.
Starting lap five and the peloton was dramatically reduced, the combination of harsh weather and hard riding clearly taking a heavy toll.
And at that point the break had a minute on the five chasers with the bunch around another minute and a half back.
The five-man chase group was trimmed to four (Wilson dropped) as they gave absolutely everything to try and bridge to the leaders and they came within 50 seconds at one point before that gap stretched to over a minute with two laps to go.
It was out to two minutes with around 40 kilometres to go and over three minutes 10 kilometres later.
With that went all hope of them making the juncture though immense credit to all four for persisting as long as they did.
Dunbar pushes the pace in the early stages of the race he was 2nd in last year to Damien Shaw (Photo: Toby Watson)
Up ahead, with the race for gold very much on, eight became five when U23 trio Downey, Dunbar and Feeley all lost contact.
That left Shaw, O’Loughlin, Roche, Brammeier and McConvey to slug it out up ahead with defending champion Shaw particularly aggressive.
He was absorbed each time before Roche eventually let rip with a blistering attack and he immediately got a gap.
An initial margin of a few seconds swelled to almost half a minute on the four chasers with Downey, Dunbar and O’Loughlin a further 20 seconds back.
Alas, Roche pinned his ears back and drilled it to the line, despite a number of frantic efforts from Shaw and Brammeier to get back on terms.
O'Loughlin also went all-in with a late attack and he was rewarded by finishing third overall but winning the U23 race.
Brammeier was second over the line with Shaw fourth.
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