Eventual winner David Brennan strings them out a little (Photo: West Coast Wheelers)
Castlebar CC’s David Brennan grabbed the win in the West Coast Wheelers Classic in Loughrea, Co Galway, yesterday; waiting until the final drag to make his move and then burying himself the final 4kms to the finish.
The 29-year-old was in the combined A1&A2 group, chasing the A3s for two minutes in the main event of the day over one 60km loop.
The A3s seemed to surrender their advantage and made little effort to remain out front for as long as they could, being joined by those behind just after the 20km mark.
Brennan told stickybottle that while a number of riders were active from that point on, the small groups that made it up the road enjoyed short lived escapes that never built a lead of more than 20 to 25 seconds.
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“There was a lot of jumping going on alright, but nothing ever got that gap that you need to pull away. There were some drags on the loop and it was more a case of some riders getting shelled out the back rather than a break going away.”
Brennan said he sensed a chance late in the race and took it.
“There was a drag around 4km from the finish so it was going over the top of that that I attacked and then kept a gap to the finish. I was going well, I felt reasonably good and it was nice to win the first one of the year.”
Brennan, an A1 rider, had just seconds to spare at the finish, with the chasers being led in by promising teenager Thomas Fallon (Seven Springs), who took second ahead of Derek Joyce (Galway Bay CC). Fallon also took the KOH prime.
In something of a strange result, the A3 riders filled four of the top six places in the combined event.
In the A4 race around 35 riders fought it out, with Derek Byrne (Laois CC) and Donal Harrington (Western Lakes) taking first and second. The duo rode an aggressive race, escaping from the group early and combining well to build a lead that never looked like being closed down.
Byrne took the win and also the KOH prime ahead of Harrington. Shane Scully (Tullamore CTC) was best of the rest, filling the final place on the podium.
While very large fields were reported in other parts of the country at the weekend, the small number of A1 and A2 riders signing on to race on Loughrea on Sunday forced the organisers to change their initial plans.
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Originally two races were planned; one for A1&A2 riders and a second event for A3&A4s. However, of the 100+ riders to sign on, only 20 were A1 or A2 licence holders. The promoting club decided to add the A3s to the modest A1/A2 group, and leave the A4s to race on their own.
A1/2/3 Result
1st: David Brennan Castlebar CC (A1)
2nd: Thomas Fallon Seven Springs (A3)
3rd: Derek Joyce Galway Bay CC (A3)
4th: Eoin Whelan Seven Springs (A3)
5th: Declan Hanrahan World Wide Cycles (A2)
6th: Michael Doyle Barrow Wheelers (A3)
A4 Result
1st: Derek Byrne Laois CC
2nd: Donal Harrington Western Lakes
3rd: Shane Scully Tullamore CTC
4th: Jim O'Rourke Western Lakes
5th: Phelim Nolan U/A
6th: Thomas McGuire Galway Bay CC
Brennan had not time to hang about as the others hunted him down with 100 metres to go (Photo: West Coast Wheelers)
Jason Prendergast (leading) wasn’t in the final shake up (Photo: West Coast Wheelers)
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