Conor Dunne was the best of the Irish team at the U23 Tour of Flanders in Belgium today
By Brian Canty
The Irish U23 team have endured a difficult start to their week of Nations Cup races with just two of their six riders completing today’s 170km Tour of Flanders in Belgium.
Conor Dunne was listed as the best Irish finisher when he came in just behind a front group of some 30 riders, having tailed off that in the last few kilometres. Cormac Clarke also finished, in what was a good ride for the first-year U23.
With little more than 40 riders completing the race, Cycling Ireland head coach Brian Nugent stressed the positives. It was the first race of its kind – it terms of both length and intensity – for some of the Irish team.
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“It went how I expected,” said Nugent.
“Conor was in the leading group coming in at the finish, just got tailed off maybe towards the end of it but the plan was to try and get a man up there in the front, and we did, so we were pleased with that. Eoin (McCarthy) also put in a very solid ride, but was pulled out with maybe 20 kilometres to go.”
“The four younger lads had a few punctures and varying degrees of bad luck, Conor actually punctured as well but managed to get back on. I think he could have been up a bit in the finish if he hadn’t because that took a bit out of him but they all got to race 120k or so (out of 170k)...and then the cobbled and climbs started.”
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“Ryan (Mullen) punctured first and Daniel (Stewart) straight after, so they didn’t get back on because the pressure was on when they flatted. The group split in two then. Cormac was in the second split and Eoin was still in the first, he just tailed off with about 20 kilometres to go so they didn’t get to finish. Cormac and Conor were the only two who finished.”
“They all got two thirds of the race in and it was just the distance that caught them. They were all still in the lead group with 50km to go but then a few things happened. Every team had punctures, you expect that because the roads were tough but I was happy. They all got a good amount of experience of riding the bergs and that’s one of our main objectives.”
Indeed, with 15 bergs to negotiate, it was anything but an easy day, but McCarthy was upbeat afterwards.
“It was pretty tough all day for me. I wasn’t feeling too great. But I got around, stayed at the front and did a bit of riding at the front. I got tailed off around 20k to go and when the bergs started getting steeper on the finishing circuit it just hit me and I was pulled off the circuit. There was no point riding by myself to the finish with another race on Wednesday.”
“It was really promising, though, considering the legs I had. I reckon I can get a top 10 in there in the next two years, there was only 40 guys left in the front group by the finish.”
“The plan was to get Conor up there, he did really well. He was motivated and always in the top 10, but probably paid for his efforts when he punctured – trying to get back on.”
Rik Zabel, son of legendary sprinter Erik, won the race in a sprint.
The Irish team will now take a rest day tomorrow, drive down to France on Monday, recce the course for Picardie on Tuesday and race on Wednesday. The fitness of Jack Wilson is still being monitored. If he’s fit, he’ll start, if not, the same team will race.
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