Mark Downey was racing against a top quality field in Switzerland tonight but he showed he's not afraid of anyone after delivering another plucky performance.
By Brian Canty
Mark Downey produced a determined display in the Points Race at the European Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland this evening, though his finishing position of 14th fails to do him any justice.
The silver medallist from the same event at the European junior Championships last year was the sole Irish competitor in the race and he fared well over the course of the 160-lap, 40k affair.
As is his tendency, he was aggressive and managed to take a couple of points on the fourth of 16 sprints.
It was a star-studded field which contained some WorldTour riders but Downey wasn't fazed at all and really dug in, even managing to escape by himself for a few laps before being reeled back in.
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He did pick up another couple of points in the 12th sprint but that was as good as it got for him.
“I enjoyed every lap of it and left everything out there,” he said.
“It wasn't a bad first attempt at a senior championships but I’ll be back next year, bigger and better.
“Hopefully I gave a few people something to shout about,” he added.
Another newcomer at this level is Fintan Ryan and he was thrown right in at the deep end in the men’s omnium where he completed the opening three events, those being the scratch race, the elimination race and the individual pursuit.
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In the scratch race Ryan was 17th of 20 riders, in the pursuit he was 18th of 20 after clocking a time of 4.44.520, 24 seconds slower than the winner.
Finally, in the elimination race he was 19th and that’s where he lies overall going into tomorrow’s final three rounds, the 1k TT, the flying lap and the points race.
Some of those who Ryan is up against are Elia Viviani (Team Sky – Italy), Lasse Norman Hansen (Garmin Cannondale - Denmark) and Jonathen Dibben (Team GB).
Eoin Mullen was in action in the 200m sprint, the Aran Islander finishing 18th of 31 riders in qualifying, a result that saw him advance to the 1/16 finals.
There he faced Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands who was the fastest man in qualifying and Mullen was soundly beaten here.
He then went into the repechage round where he finished second in his three-man heat after a gutsy display against the former world champion Francois Pervis of France.
The women were represented today by Shannon McCurley and she was listed as a non-finisher.
As expected, it was a thrilling battle between Laura Trott and Kirsten Wild (Netherlands), with Trott taking it for Team GB.
In action tomorrow are Eimear Moran (500m TT), Eoin Mullen (1k TT final), Marc Potts and Martyn Irvine (4k Individual Pursuit), Felix English (elimination race final) and Lydia Boylan (omnium).
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