That'll do nicely; Matt Brammeier (Champion System) takes the national elite title in Carlingford, Co Louth, from Philip Lavery (Photo: Adrian O'Connor - www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
Matt Brammeier has taken his fourth National Road Race Title in Carlingford, Co Louth, this afternoon. Philip Lavery took second place and Damien Shaw was third after the medalists arrived at the finish together in a three-man break.
Shaw was the least fancied of the breakaway men at the finish and indeed he appeared to ride for the bronze in the closing kilometres into the headwind. He did the bulk of the work to keep the trio away as a small chase group closed in behind.
That group included Ronan McLaughlin (An Post Chainreaction), Paidi O'Brien (Planet Tri) and Ryan Sherlock (Polygon Sweet Nice). They got away from a large chase group on the final of 13 laps and put in a last ditch effort to catch the leaders.
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However, the trio up the road easily lasted out front and after Shaw towed the other two all the way to the finish Brammeier used his smarts and strength to see off Lavery after both - and indeed Shaw - had ridden an absolutely magnificent race.
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In the last couple of hundred metres Brammeier used a small traffic island to his advantage. He jumped very hard to the right of it, meaning Lavery had to wait until he had cleared the feature to dive across the road after the defending champion.
Lavery couldn't quite close the gap into the headwind in the dead flat finish and once Brammeier had a few lengths he powered home for a great win. Lavery was just after him, looking very unhappy with the way the sprint had gone, and he was followed around 40 seconds later by an absolutely exhausted Shaw.
Lavery and Brammeier were up the road from the opening couple of laps, though Brammeier always looked a little stronger and more relaxed, and seemed to be riding well within his maximum.
Paidi O'Brien led in the chase group sprint for 4th with Ronan McLaughlin in 5th and Ryan Sherlock in 6th.
Jack Wilson took the U23 title from Newry's Cormac Clarke.
More in a bit.
