Caroline Ryan was back in her Garda CC kit yesterday and back to winning ways in Dunsany (Photo: Brendan Culleton)
By Caroline Martinez
Caroline Ryan has won the fourth round of the Joe Daly Women’s National League in Dunsany, Co Meath. The track world championship medallist attacked 10km from the finish yesterday and established a big enough gap with Janine McNally to stay away.
The Garda CC rider won the two-up finishing sprint from McNally (North Down CC). It was Ryan’s first win of the road season after taking some time off before beginning her preparation for the time trial National Championships next month.
Yesterday’s race got up to speed from the off, with a very strong Garda CC team on a mission to protect Sandra Fitzgerald, the league leader. Eve McCrystal and Ryan controlled the pace throughout the 51 km race, lining out the riders and shedding some out the back as early as the first 10km.
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Unfortunately, they also managed to drop their team mate Fitzgerald in the process. The wearer of the league-leader’s jersey was forced to abandon the race, still not having recovered from a bad crash last weekend at the Bedford Three Day race in the UK.
DID’s Anne Dalton, Orwell’s Orla Hendron and a few others took turns trying to get away, but the Garda riders weren’t letting anyone escape and with Fitzgerald out of the action they started racing for themselves.
Ryan chose her moment well and the peloton could not prevent her escape 10km from the finish. The rest of the bunch, having witnessed the multiple efforts of McCrystal and Ryan to make a break, did not expect this latest breakaway to stick.
Only North Down’s McNally thought it was worth a shot and followed in Ryan’s wheel tracks. With less than 5km to go Ryan and McNally had over a minute on the bunch. The duo battled it out in a sprint to the finish line which Ryan won by only a couple of bike lengths.
As the rest of the riders approached the finish line, Anne Dalton (DID Electrical) started an early sprint to cross the line in third.
Caroline Ryan spoke to stickybottle after the race.:
“It was great to win it. We worked as a team. There was myself and Eve [McCrystal] and Sandra [Fitzgerald], although she didn't get to finish it. She had a bad fall last week.”
“We came in with the idea that we wanted to protect Sandra’s leader’s jersey. It was just unfortunate the way it happened today but Sandra will be back in time for the time trial.”
“Today was frustrating at times. You’d like to see more attacking, so the pressure is on all the time. We had one last go. Eve really put in a good stint at the front on the hilly part of the course; I attacked then and went for it.”
“I was doing a lot of attacking in the first two laps and I got a bit frustrated then. I thought ‘I’ll have another one or two goes and see’. What I’m looking for at the moment is a good training session. I am at the end of a big block of training at the moment, just getting back into it. I had a break after the world championships.”
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“I took one month off the bike and a second month gradually getting back into it. This is the first week I have had a solid week’s training. I have tired legs today but I really wanted to get a good workout. I am training full time at the moment, I’m on career break.”
“It would be great if those races were longer and a little bit harder, if there were a few more drags. I think it would be good for everybody. There’s a lot more work going on in women's races than let’s say two years ago.”
“I'm in Ireland now for a while and the next thing we are all thinking about is the national championships and I’d really love to do well in the time trial and that’s what I’d be training towards for the next while. The biggest goal after that is being back on the track again and I’d love to be able to qualify for the world championships again. That takes off officially in October.”
Anne Dalton’s third place yesterday was enough for her to take over the league lead after round 4.
Joe Daly’Cycles Women’s National League
Round 4 - Dunsany GP, Co Meath
1 - Caroline Ryan (Garda CC Richies Bikes)
2 - Janine McNally (North Down CC)
3 - Anne Dalton (DID Electrical Racing Team)
4 - Tonya Moran (Black Rose Racing)
5 - Monica Kotecka (Seven Springs CC)
6 - Patricia Buckley (Orwell Wheelers)
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