Having made a blistering start to the season with wins on home roads and in Europe, first-year junior Seth Dunwoody was then hit by a bout of illness that slowed his gallop for a number of weeks. But the Cannibal B Victorious rider was very much back on song at the weekend when he won the Noel Teggart Memorial, beating many of the best seniors in the country on the day.
For 17-year-old Dunwoody, that big win bookended a week - in Germany and Ireland - that confirmed his return to form. He impressed in both the road race and TT disciplines ahead of the National Road Championships being promoted this weekend by Island Wheelers CC, in Co Tyrone.
"I was on anti biotics about a month a half ago so I feel I'm on the up this past wee while, getting back to form," he told stickybottle. "I think I'm starting to find my legs where they were at before I was sick."
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However, ahead of this week's Irish TT and and road race title clashes, he cautioned championship racing can be unpredictable. And while he wanted to put in a good shift, and was hopeful of doing well at the nationals, he said he wasn't counting any chickens.
"National champs are always a weird one," he said. "There's always a strange result or something that doesn't go the way you think and just, generally, at a nationals anything can happen. There's also a lot of strong guys in the junior peloton at the moment in Ireland. So I think it will be a good race, we'll just have to see."
While Dunwoody would also be expected to contend for wins on the Junior Tour of Ireland next month, team duties will call him away as he has a major week-long stage race in France. So for now, on home roads, the championships this week are the big goal. His form is, without question, on the up if his recent results are anything to go by.
Last Sunday week Dunwoody was in the breakaway on the final stage of LVM Saarland Trofeo (2.Ncup) in Germany, with 1:30 in hand well inside the final 20km. However, a crash in the bunch involved so many riders it blocked the road, with several cyclists needing ambulance treatment and others being airlifted to hospital.
On the final lap, when Dunwoody's four-man breakaway came to the same spot on the course where the crash happened a lap earlier, and with just 6km to go, the site still had not been cleared and the race was called to a halt.
"It was frustrating," he said. "There was four of us and no GC contenders and everything was going in the right direction, everyone working smoothly. And I knew I had a good sprint so I was pretty confident to at least get a podium out of it and maybe the win. But because there was so many riders in the crash, they used all the ambulances.
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"And when we turned onto the tailwind section all the way to the finish, with about 8k to go, we saw the commissaire out of the top of the car with a red flag. We were a bit confused initially. So it was a chance squandered but it could have been worse, you could have been going home with pretty serious injuries."
Dunwoody followed that up with 3rd place in the Ernie Magwood Series 10 mile TT midweek when both he and Adam Rafferty (Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19) went to within one second of the national junior record set by Darren Rafferty two years ago. However, Dunwoody pointed out both he and Adam Rafferty were now riding on unrestricted gears, unlike Darren Rafferty who set the record on junior gears.
After that TT ride, he moved on to Banbridge CC's Noel Teggart Memorial on Sunday. And after 1.5 laps in the A2 group, the A1s caught Dunwoody's group and the all-out racing commenced for him, ultimately ending in an impressive win.
The race was four laps of a 32km circuit, with breakaways going and then being brought back. However, when an eight-man group looked like it may have a chance to go all the way to the line, Dunwoody and Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC) attacked after it, bridging the gap working together.
While the strong duo put in a big effort to close the gap, their breakaway was soon caught. And in the closing stages a large number of riders were still in contention, as the remains of the field was splitting and coming together again due to the attacking.
"The race had blown to pieces coming into the final, it was breaking up and then coming back together," Dunwoody said. "I kind of rolled off of the front of my group and I put the hammer down for a bit in Annaclone, about 7-8k out.
"I ended up getting a very good margin. I could see they were stalling behind and I got about 15 to 20 seconds, maybe even a bit more at times. But then the groups behind me all came together and I think it was Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing) who brought me back, caught me with about 2k to go."
While McDunphy then attacked in a bid for a solo victory, he too was caught. And though Dunwoody had just put in a big effort himself out front alone, he said his legs still felt good. On a small rise with about 500m to go, he kicked early. And when there was no response from the others in the group, he pulled out a gap.
"I just went for it there, just reached out for it," he said of going for broke. "I took one glance behind and I could see that nobody had jumped onto me. So I just put the head down and went for it," he said of holding off runner-up Aaron Wade (Cortizo Aluminium Team) and 3rd placed Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Cycles).
