Eddie Dunbar has said a six-hour race at the Worlds in Belgium today was perhaps beyond him after a such a long break from racing in recent months. Meanwhile, Irish team manager Tim Barry said the performances across the national team at the Flanders Worlds would be built on into the future.
“It was a very, very hard race,” Dunbar said of the elite
men’s road race today when he and his team mates – Ryan Mullen and Rory
Townsend were non-finishers, though they went on the attack early.
“I hadn’t raced since the Olympics because I got Covid
after it,” added Dunbar. “I wasn’t going to race for the rest of the year after
that because I had three full weeks off the bike.
“Training went well over the last few weeks, but today I
did suffer, you know. I tried a lot to get into the breakaway,” he explained of
going on the attack after the start but being closed down each time.
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“Maybe I spent a bit too much energy trying to follow a
lot of moves. In the end it was really good to have Rory there,” he added of
Townsend being in the eight-man escape for half of the race.
“Then it was just about trying to stay upright on the
circuits and if you had legs you were going to be there. I knew I had a good
four hours in me. I got caught by the crash, which didn’t help. So I did have
to pull out a bit earlier than I would’ve thought. But it’s just nice to be
back racing, you know.”
Ireland team DS today Tim Barry – a former international
rider and former DS with ProContinental team Aqua Blue Sport – said today’s men’s
race “was definitely not the day we were hoping”.
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“It was always going to be very difficult with three
riders and even some of them had issues in the build up to it. One of the team
goals was to get a rider in the early breakaway which was Rory and he was
successful in that, he was up there for a long time… he had a great ride.”
Barry said the unusual course and aggressive racing
appeared to change the psychology of the race. It ensured the breakaway was
never given more than about five minutes; something he said was unusual for a
Worlds.
The gap between breakaway and bunch is usually allowed to
grow much bigger in the elite men’s race at the Worlds, allowing for the
breakaway to stay clear for longer. However, rather than follow that usual
pattern, the breakaway today was caught with well over 100km to go.
Barry noted the field had been cut back to less than 50
riders much further from the finish than usual, making for a “really weird”
race and one where the Irish team had some issues go against it before the
start.
Overall, Barry singled out Megan Armitage for mention,
saying she was surviving very well in the elite women’s race before she crashed
out.
“She had had a really strong performance up to that point
and she was unlucky to crash. Unfortunately, crashes happen and she’s fine, but
she was out of the race,” he said.
Darren Rafferty scored Ireland’s best result at the
Worlds with 10th in the junior TT. Barry said the performances at these Worlds
would be built on for the future.
