Downey springs from strong breakaway for stylish win at Mick Lally Memorial

Eric Downey attacked with 2km remaining and blasted up the tough ramp to the line (Photo: Gary McIlroy)

Dubliner Eric Downey has taken the best win of his fledgling cycling career after a strong ride in the Mick Lally Memorial in Co Meath today.

The 26-year-old Orwell Wheelers rider only began racing last year but this afternoon’s win on the Dorey’s Forge circuit was his fourth open race victory, and his first against A1 opposition.

He got clear in an early breakaway which was never seen by the bunch again and coming into the finish he took off on his own and held off the best efforts of those behind to bring him back.

“It was mainly a flat circuit but the hill at the finish was tough each lap and at the end I had my team mate Diarmuid Collins to cover any attacks after me, so it worked out really well,” he told stickybottle.

Downey was part of a large A2 group given a two-minute handicap on the A1 riders in the main event of three races promoted by Dublin Wheelers CC under race directors Brian Carolan and John Heery. However, not content with working within that group to hold off the A1 riders as long as they could, a group of 11 strong men took flight from the A2 bunch on the first lap and quickly built a lead of over a minute.

Behind them, some of the A1 riders caught the A2 bunch, but the breakaway continued to plough on and worked very well together virtually all the way to the line. Indeed, going onto the last lap their gap was 2:10 to the bunch behind – slightly more than the advantage they had started with.

While the breakaway did not push as hard on the final lap, the first attack from it was the decisive one, with Downey putting in a strong move with 2km remaining and going clear. The gap never grew much beyond a handful of seconds, with some of the men he had just left in the escape trying to get back on terms.

There were attacks after Downey by Eoin Morton (UCD CC), Brian Harte (Limerick CC) and Geoff Sheehan (SDCC). But each time those moves were covered by Orwell’s Collins, whose team work combined with the efforts of Downey out front saw the trophy wing its way to south Dublin this year.

Morton came in just ahead of the rest of the breakaway to take second, with Francis Gibson (SEENG) sprinting strongly up to the line for third.

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Downey won his first ever race last season – the A4 event at the Dunsany GP. And he followed that up with a win at the Swords GP. After being upgraded, he took the support race at the Paddy Flanagan Two Day and has now added the Mick Lally Memorial to that list.

“I always cycled for transport but it wasn’t until last year that I did some road racing,” said the Ranelagh engineer.

“I’m going to ride Rás Mumhan at Easter and then hopefully the Rás. The Tour of Ulster would also be one I’d be thinking about. I was delighted to get the win today and we’ll see what happens for the rest of the season.

Mick Lally Memorial (A1/A2)