Philip Lavery storms to victory from Stephen Halpin at Lucan GP; Daire Feeley wins A3

Philip Lavery has plenty of time to celebrate as he comes in for victory in the Lucan GP main event this afternoon some way ahead of the two-man sprint for 2nd place where Stephen Halpin got the better of Olan Barrett (Photo: Amy Norah Farrell)

Philip Lavery has taken his second win of the season at the Lucan GP in Co Meath this afternoon, Saturday. He was the strongest of a three-man escape that took flight in the opening kilometres, never to be seen again.

With the race route taking the riders from Batterstown out the short run to the Green Sheds turn to begin three laps of approximately 17kms on the Dunsany-Warrenstown course, Lavery did not wait very long to start firing his bullets.

Characteristically, he began his aggression from the gun, and under the early pressure he piled on he went clear with just two others for company; Stephen Halpin of Bikeworx and Olan Barrett of Aquablue, making three strong men up front.

Just behind in the bunch the attacking continued, with another trio pulling clear in pursuit of the leaders.

In that small chase group was Tipperary strongman Dermot Radford and recent comeback men Paul Kennedy of VeloRevolution and Ciaran Kelly of Bikeworx.

And that was how it would stay for most of the race, with the three leaders pulling out a gap north of 1:30 on the chasers, and a gap of just over a minute forming back to the bunch.

A group of around 12 to 14 riders clipped off the front of what was an aggressive peloton despite the fact the leaders were clearly never going to be caught.

And it was the UCD pairing of Ian Richardson and Eoin Morton who pulled clear from that large second chase group to mop up 7^th and 8^th place respectively at the finish.

In the closing stages at the head of the race it was Lavery, clearly the strongest on the day, who was attacking again. He pulled clear as the event neared a close and took the win solo, just as he had done at the Mick Lally Memorial three weeks ago.

His winning margin in the end was around 20 seconds over Halpin, who got the better of Barrett in the race for 2^nd place.

In the three-man chase group next over the line, Radford and Kennedy could only be separated for 4^th and 5^th by a photo finish, with the Tipperary man getting the verdict over the veteran Kennedy; the best sprinter in the country when he was in his pomp in his 20s.

That duo pulled a little clear of 6^th placed Kelly, himself only returning to serious racing.

In the A3 race it was Daire Feeley of Donamon Dynamos who took the two-up sprint for the win from breakaway companion Damien Crowe of Dublin Wheelers.

That result continues a very strong early season run for Feeley who currently sits atop Cycling Ireland’s junior rankings for the season to date published midweek.

Behind them, David Hennessy of Bray Wheelers pulled clear of the bunch to make no mistake in the hunt for the final spot on the podium.

That left Headstrong’s Sean Reynolds to take the bunch sprint for 4^th ahead of Colm Farrell of Navan Road Club and Apollo CC’s James Wilson.

A winner at the Newbridge GP the weekend before last, Terry O’Malley of UCD CC rounded out the A3 placings in 6^th spot.

And with Dublin Wheelers taking 2^nd in the A3 race, the club went one better in the A4 event when Sean O’Halloran came in alone after a very strong ride to take victory.

The minor placings were decided in a bunch sprint, with Valdis Andersons (Orwell Wheelers) proving quickest and taking 2^nd, just ahead of Gerard O’Sullivan (Headstrong) and Aidan Kelly (Bikeworx).

The events were promoted by Lucan CRC, with the 220 riders signing on across the three races all participating a minute's silence as a mark of respect for Stephen Byrne of Dublin Wheelers who lost his battle with cancer last week.

The win for Lavery in the main event underlines that he is in very good condition. This is despite deciding in the off season to stop racing, only to be tempted back by an offer of a place with the Continental ranked team Synergy Baku.

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A full-time rider in recent seasons, he has now decided to combine working with racing and will continue his employment with Noel Thompson’s SmartLamp company while trying to put together the form that would make him competitive when he races internationally with David McQuaid’s Synergy Baku outfit.

Stephen Halpin leads the winning breakaway from Olan Barrett and eventual winner Philip Lavery (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)

The chase group did their best to get back on terms but never made it up to the leaders; left to right, Ciaran Kelly, Paul Kennedy and Dermot Radford (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)

The head of the second chase group that formed in the A1-A2 race (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)

The A3 bunch heads for home with two riders already up the road, never to be caught (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)

This massive sprinted decided 4th place in the A3 race and was won by Headstrong’s Sean Reynolds (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)

Dermot Radford, on the left, just gets the better of Paul Kennedy in the sprint for 4th place in the main event with Ciaran Kelly just behind in 6th (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)