Tim Barry takes a nice solo win in Broadford
Tim Barry (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes) profited from some aggressive riding on the last lap of the Cycling Pursuits Cup in Broadford, Co Limerick, yesterday when he dropped his breakaway companion Denis Lynch on the final climb.
He then time trialled into the finish and had over a minute in hand before his team mate Paidi O’Brien led the chase group in for second place ahead of Lynch.
Barry told stickybottle he had trained hard on Friday and Saturday and when he did not feel fresh in the early stages of yesterday’s race, he only had slim hopes of being in the hunt for the win.
“I was thinking it would be Paidi we’d be trying to get up there, but I just had a dig to liven it up and I got away. So you have to take your chances.”
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“I’m also carrying a bit of weight, a few extra kilos, and with the wind, hailstones and rain it was very cold so maybe I didn’t feel the cold as much as some of the others.”
“Even when I got away with Denis towards the end I was expecting Paidi to maybe jump across before the gap got too big. It's always hard to win so I was definitely delighted to get it. There was an extra lap this year and that helped because Denis’s legs just went last time up the hill.”
That victory yesterday – which took 2hrs 50mins – added to the very strong start to 2012 for the new Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes team Barry has put in place for this season.
The new-look outfit’s Sean Lacey took victory at the Lacey Cup a week ago in Tralee, with Paidi O’Brien third on that occasion.
And while the team was taking a 1-2 in Broadford yesterday, Lacey was riding very strongly in the Navan Avonmore-run Cycleways Cup, eventually finishing third behind Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport) and Connor Murphy (Eurocycles).
With six laps to be negotiated in Limerick yesterday, featuring a tough climb each time around, the A2s were set off first in the main event, with the A1 group catching the last of them at around the halfway point.
The groups were whittled down quite small at that stage and as the fourth lap was coming to a close a group containing the strongest riders had pulled clear.
These included Barry and O’Brien, Lynch, Richard Hooton (Visit Nenagh), Thomas Lavery (Comeragh CC) and a number of others.
Near the end of that lap, Barry attacked just after the descent of the climb and got away with Lynch. The pair pressed on hard and going through the start/finish area with two laps to go, they had built a lead of between 15 to 20 seconds.
They pressed on hard together through the fifth lap and early into the sixth and final circuit. But on the final passage of the hill Barry proved too strong for Lynch and pulled clear alone.
He went over the top of the climb with the gap opening on Lynch and blasted down the other side and in towards the finish where he had plenty of time to savour the moment.
Well over a minute later O’Brien took the sprint for second pretty comfortably. Lynch, who had started in the A2 group, took third and Hooton fourth. There was then a gap back to Lavery, also an A2, who took fifth to add to his win at the Traders Cup in Dundalk a week earlier.
In the A4 race Stephen Murray of Dungarvan CC took the win after three laps to lift the Michael Shiels Cup. Barry Horgan (Tralee BC) was second and Barry Twohig (Blarney CC) was third.
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We’ll have results of the A3 race when we get them.
A1/A2 Race Cycling Pursuits Cup 104km
1st Timmy Barry (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes)
2nd Paidi O’ Brien (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes)
3rd Denis Lynch
4th Richard Hooton (DMG)
5th Tomas Laverey (Comeragh)
6th Colm Turner
A4 Race Michael Shiels Cup 52km
1st Stephen Murray (Dungarvan CC)
2nd Barry Horgan (Tralee Manor BC)
3rd Barry Twohig (Blarney CC)
4th Liam Pollard (Clonmel)
5th Noel Berkley (Middleton CC)
6th Ger Moore (Cork County CC)
(Results form the A3 race when we get them)
The gallop for second in the A race……
Paidi O’Brien takes it
Winner in Dundalk last week, Thomas Lavery was 5th today
Sean McIlroy of Iverk Carrick Wheelers
Cat 3 winner
Second cat 3
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