Eoghan Clifford is now a treble world champion; adding track gold to the two road race titles in he took in the US last year.
Eoghan Clifford has won the men’s scratch race at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, today.
He adds the gold medal and iconic rainbow bands to the bronze he charged to in the individual pursuit on Friday.
The Galway man, who has been riding at international level for less than a year and is a complete newcomer to track, also took two golds for Ireland at the road Worlds in the US last year, when he won his time trial and road race.
Today, Clifford rode a strong race by keeping the pace high in the earlier stages, before attacking with about 25 laps remaining and lapping the field.
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That massive effort and the dividend it yielded was enough to give Clifford the gold medal and underlined that his racer’s instinct matches his impressive engine.
The silver medal went to Joseph Berenyi of the US and bronze to Eduardo Santas Asensio from Spain.
Eoghan Clifford on his way to the individual pursuit bronze medal at the Worlds in Holland on Friday.
Colin Lynch was also competing with Clifford but suffered a puncture in the closing laps and was forced to retire as a result.
It was a disappointing result for a man who has been top of the paracycling world himself on previous occasions.
“I stayed near the back for the first few laps, but when the attacks started after 5-6 laps I knew my legs were good,” said Clifford of his gold medal ride today.
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“I’m not an explosive rider so I rode high on the track so I could cover moves, and when the pace died I put in a good hard dig to tire out people.
“With about 25 laps to go I put in one big huge attack when I saw the main guys boxed in, and I just kept going. It was a long 25 laps!
“Once I caught the main group I rode through to the front to keep out of danger and keep an eye on the rest.”
Katie-George Dunlevy, left, and her pilot Eve McCrystal took a bronze yesterday on their tandem in the pursuit.
Clifford added while he was new to the track, he had gained hugely from the mentoring of 2014 madison world champion David Muntaner (Esp) who lives in Majorca, the track base for the Irish team.
The Irish man studied video and took advice for the Spanish rider.
“One of the most worthwhile sessions I did was one evening when I sat with David and watched the scratch race, and he gave me some great advice that I stuck with today.
“We spent the evening watching the scratch race and understanding how it works and talking through different scenarios.
“He gave me great advice saying that when you go for it, go for it. Put everything into your move. It was really great, because I couldn’t get enough time on the track.”
Clifford’s gold brings to a close the Worlds for Ireland; with the national team taking two bronze medals and a world title from the meeting.
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