O'Brien, Young and Maes lead the way at De Ronde Cross

*Richard Maes just before taking the chequered flag for another win on the Munster scene in Co Cork today (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

Grace Young and Richard Maes have taken a double victory for All human-VeloRevolution at De Ronde Cross in Co Cork today; the team mates extending a strong run on the Munster scene this season.

Young won ahead of Márcia Salvador (TC Racing), with Sinead Rock (Midleton CTC) taking the final place on the podium.

Young got into an early lead, which grew instantly; the multiple national title winner already very close to one minute up on Salvador after the first lap of five.

That gap grew and grew over the following laps; Young adding over a minute on the second lap and then several minutes per lap after that.

In the end she won from runner-up Salvador by almost eight minutes, with Rock in 3rd at one lap.

In the men's race, Maes took victory ahead of Richard Barry of St Finbarr's, with Tim O'Regan (VeloRevolution) placing 3rd.

*Grace Young on her way to another win in Co Cork today at De Ronde Cross (Photo: Michael Buckley Photography)*

Like the women's race, Maes took the lead early but the gaps did not get as big, or grow as quickly, as had been the case for his team mate Young on her way to the women's race win.

After the first lap of seven, Maes had a slender lead over eventual runner-up Barry; the St Finbarr's man having scooped a number of wins this year and putting it up to his biggest rival in the early stages.

During laps two and three, things at the front continued to go the way of Maes, who added 30 seconds to his advantage over Barry.

At that point eventual 3rd placed O'Regan was about one minute down on Maes, but already had a decent advantage over Trevor Woods (All human-VeloRevolution), who was chasing him in 4th position.

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On the fourth lap, Maes suffered a mishap when the dial on one of his shoes broke, loosening it. And while he tried to fix it, those efforts were not successful and he was forced to battle on with his shoe open.

*Liam O'Brien of Fermoy CC was the winner in the junior men's race (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

Barry closed the gap to him by six seconds on that fourth lap. Then on 'Lap 5' Maes rallied and put another 25 seconds into Barry. That gap grew by another second on the penultimate lap, with Maes finding another 11 seconds over Barry on the final lap of the circuit.

That saw Maes take the victory by 1:08 from Barry, with O'Regan in 3rd place at 2:12 and Woods placing 4th at 3:19.

Liam O'Brien of Fermoy CC put in another strong ride to win the junior event; the 2021 Irish U16 criterium champion already having made a big impression in the junior ranks this season.

Today O'Brien faced Sam Bolger (Killarney CC) and Cillian O'Shea (Verge Sports PI Cycles) in the junior men's race and put time into them both. O'Brien was 10 seconds up after the first lap of seven before adding another nine seconds to his advantage over Bolger on the second lap.

That gap then grew by 10 seconds and 20 seconds over the next two laps, before Bolger nicked a few seconds back on 'Lap 5'. In the end O'Brien took the victory by 1:05 over Bolger, with O'Shea rounding out the podium over six minutes back.