Ireland’s Dillon Corkery goes into the second round of
the French Cup this weekend in good form having already recorded his first
victory of the season.
The 23-year-old from Cork claimed victory in Grand Prix d'Onjon in Aube,
northern France, after escaping late in the contest with Charlie Quarterman - the British 23-year-old who rode for the last two
years with Trek-Segafredo.
Run over 127km –
some nine laps of a circuit of just over 14km – Corkery was aggressive from the
outset but initially missed a strong group of about eight riders that pulled
out a decent advantage on the peloton. However, he managed to get across the
gap solo to join the leaders during the main crosswind section on the course.
“I put it in the gutter and opened the door
for no-one and when I looked around
I was on my own in no man’s land
and then got across,” he said.
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However, when the
cooperation in the breakaway was not what it should have been, the group lost momentum
and was caught after being away for about 60km. At that stage Corkery thought
the race was over for him.
When the breeze
picked up through the contest, Quarterman attacked hard in the crosswind
section on the penultimate lap and got clear, with Corkery going after him. The
duo then combined forces for about 14km and survived out front to sprint it out
for victory. Corkery beat Quarterman in the sprint to the line, with the
remains of the bunch 19 seconds back.
That victory, last Sunday, came after Corkery had already taken 4th in the 128km Boucles du Haut-Var in southern France the previous weekend. Corkery told stickybottle while he also felt very strong in the opening round of the French Cup - Grand Prix du Pays d'Aix on February 19th - he missed a key split due to positioning and finished 47th, in a group at 46 seconds.
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He was now looking forward to the second round this weekend; the 164km Vienne Classic in Chauvigny in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.
This
year Corkery is riding for CC Étupes, a crack squad in France at Division 1 level. He competed
for Vélo Club de Toucy over the past
two years and in the final weeks of last season he raced for a period as a
stagiaire with EvoPro Racing.
However, he said while
he had a fantastic time riding with the Irish Continental team, at times
against the top World Tour riders in the sport, he felt he needed to bank more
progress before being truly ready for that level.
Now having wintered well
and gained a place in one of the biggest and strongest elite French teams, he
feels he can get more results as he continues to work towards his aim of
gaining a ProContinental contract.
“The team is crazy strong, we have some
serious riders; totally different to what I have been use to in the last few
years,” he said of CC Étupes.
He is one of only two non-French riders on the team this year; the other being first-year U23 rider from Britain, Tyler Hannay, who won the Junior Tour of Wales last year.
Corkery is the former elite criterium champion in Ireland and while his ability to represent his country was badly curtailed due to the pandemic, he was on international duty several times last year.
He gained selection onto the Irish team for Tour de l'Avenir and rode very strongly, especially on stage 3 when he made the select group of 17 riders when the crosswinds blew. He was also picked for the U23 road races at the European Road Championships in Italy and World Road Championships in Belgium.
