One of the most prolific riders in the country last year, Lindsay Watson has wasted no time in opening his account for 2020; a victory today just 24 hours after finishing 2nd in his first outing of the year.
While he was beaten in the Annaclone GP by John Buller (Banbridge CC) in a sprint from the breakaway yesterday, there was little or no chance of the same happening at today’s George Rooney Phoenix GP.
In the Phoenix CC promotion Watson rode away from the A1
bunch solo and bridged a gap of about 1½ minutes to the A2s ahead.
After he caught them he sat in for a while, caught his
breath and stocked up on food and drink before taking off on his own to catch
an A2 breakaway that had already forged clear.
Advertisement
Having caught those at the front of the race Watson
(Powerhouse Sport) worked with them to repel the A1 riders still chasing
behind.
And after that plan succeeded he made short work of the
finale to win just ahead of the A2 breakaway men he was with.
All in all it was a tidy result achieved in very impressive style. And on the basis of what he has produced in the past 48 hours, Watson looks in mint condition having clearly wintered well.
Today the A1 scratch group he was in didn’t gel very well
on the opening lap and made only limited inroads into the two minutes advantage
the A2s had over them from the start.
At the end of that first lap Watson found himself off the
front by a few lengths coming out of a corner and into a side-tailwind.
He held that modest advantage for a short period over the
group just behind him before finally deciding to commit and strike out alone.
“The gap sat around 10 seconds with
no real effort from myself or willingness to ride from the group behind,” he
said of accidentally finding himself off the front.
“I contemplated sitting up, it was too early for a solo effort. Then again I didn’t want to fall back into the group with the risk over never making the catch,” he added of the same race not coming together twelve months ago.
Related News
Watson plugged away solo for about 20 minutes and bridged the gap, which was about 1:30 when he started riding alone, to the A2 group.
Then next time around he got clear of them at the same
part of the course he had earlier shook off the A1s.
He said when he later caught the large A2 breakaway on
his own he was confident it would stay clear as they worked well together.
“I think initially there was 10 to 12 of us and after a lap or two it was down to eight riders,” he said.
The others in that breakaway included. among others, Peter McLean (Ards CC), Adam Skeet (Northern CC), John Madden (Dig Deep Coaching), Barry McKenna (Newry Wheelers) and Ciaran O’Sullivan (Phoenix CC).
“Anytime the gap came down to under 30 seconds I just turned the screw; losing a few in the process but maintaining a decent gap,” Watson said.
However, while he felt good he said
the chase was on behind, adding Ryan Reilly (Dan Morrissey-MIG-Pactimo) was
going well and very nearly caught him and the others.
“He came close, within about 10-15
seconds,” Watson said of Reilly’s push to get up to the breakaway.
“The finish would have suited him so
I knew I had to get there without him. But the others I was with rode really
well and I think we deserved to stay out there to the finish.”
He added with about 500 metres to
the line he kicked and claimed victory; winning it by a decent margin in the
end.
It was a double celebration for Watson and his Powerhouse Sport team as Cathir Doyle claimed victory in the A3 event.
Watson took the win ahead of Ciaran O’Sullivan of hosts Phoenix
CC with Peter McLean of Ards CC in 3rd.
They were followed by top
tester John Madden (Dig Deep Coaching) in 4th,
Barry McKenna (Newry Wheelers) in 5th and Adam Skeet (Northern CC) in 6th.
- Apologies for the lack of results; we will bring them to you just as soon as we have them.
Topics
