Martyn Irvine did not lack aggression this weekend, but the results simply did not go his way as they had done so spectacularly over the past two World Championships (Photo: Guy Swarbrick)
The hero of the piece for Ireland at the last two World Track Championships, there was to be no magical three in a row for Martyn Irvine in Paris this weekend.
The Newtownards man has had an eventful few months in his career; the first major step coming at the end of last summer when he decided to turn his back on riding for road trade team Unitedhealthcare in the United States in favour of refocusing on the track.
However, with a few months track training in the bag, Irvine went to the first round of the UCI World Cup in Mexico in November and broke his collarbone in a crash.
Advertisement
He was forced into another period of recovery.
But he had bounced back in spectacular fashion before from such setbacks and he went into this weekend’s Worlds in Paris a major medal hope for Ireland.
On a glorious day in Minsk exactly two years ago, Irvine celebrated a wonderful silver medal in the individual pursuit by climbing back onto his bike less than an hour later to line out in the scratch race.
He put in the kind of performance that has made him the Godfather of Irish track cycling by storming home to take the gold.
Irvine rides eyeballs out in the pursuit this weekend; his 9th place there was to be his best showing in the omnium at the Worlds (Photo: Guy Swarbrick)
Within weeks he would crash while riding for Unitedhealthcare in the Tour of Taiwan, breaking his hip and wiping out his full road season.
He put his head down and would come back at the end of the summer to take the bronze medal in the omnium at the European Championships.
And despite crashing again at the Ghent Six Day just weeks later, he remarkably again fought his way back to take scratch race silver at the Worlds in Cali, Colombia, exactly 12 months ago.
Related News
His form over this season never got going; his crash in Mexico especially devastating since all his eggs were in the basket of the national track set up.
And this weekend he performed well below par in the omnium to finish 17th overall when the event concluded yesterday.
On the second day of competition in the two-day, six-race event; Irvine was 14th in the 1km TT, 17th in the flying lap and 17th in the points race.
That followed an opening day on Friday during which he was 20th in the scratch race, 9th in the pursuit and 15th in the elimination race.
With Cycling Ireland head coach on the track in Paris this weekend; the magic didn't happen this time out. But Irish fans cannot expect one man to deliver every time (Photo: Guy Swarbrick)
The day previous, Thursday, he had contested the scratch race stand alone event.
And while his haul from that race over the last two years had been gold and silver, he had to settle for 10th this time around.
That result, combined with his 17th overall in the omnium, left him clearly disappointed.
And having qualified for the London Olympics in the omnium in 2012, he said he felt his future in the event was now unclear.
“I don’t know what to do with it now,” he said in Paris yesterday.
“Next year I really need to be getting top sixes and podiums in order to qualify for the Olympics.”
Only time will tell if this weekend’s result may mark a departure for him from the omnium or if he will regroup and press ahead in an effort to qualify for the Rio Olympics in it, or other races.
Topics
