Irishman Matt Brammeier warms up before his prologue at the Three Days of West Flanders which got underway yesterday. The four-time national champion was 99th, 38 seconds slower than stage winner and race leader Anton Vorobyev of Katusha.
By Brian Canty
Conor Dunne was best of the Irish on the opening day at the Three Days of West Flanders (2.1) in Belgium yesterday.
The An Post Chainreaction man whipped around the seven-kilometre prologue 37 seconds slower than stage winner, Anton Vorobyev of Katusha.
It’s a solid start from Dunne who told stickybottle afterwards that the short time-trials were definitely not his favourite discipline.
However, he said he felt good and was looking forward to the two road stages over the weekend where he hoped to move up the general classification.
“I was feeling okay today actually,” was Dunne’s response to a day where he beat a number of riders from ProContinental and WorldTour teams.
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“I would have liked to have gone better but that’s always the way, isn’t it?”
Nonetheless, his time of 8.34 placed him 95th going into today’s 174-kilometre stage.
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Conor Dunne in last evening's time trial at the Three Days of West Flanders (Photo: Luc Van Der Meiren)
“I’ll definitely give it a good crack,” said Dunne.
“A lot will depend on the wind and which way it’s blowing.
“There’s only one climb to negotiate but that’s the Kwaremont and that’s a really nasty one.
“So positioning there is going to be key.
“After that then we have a number of local laps of a finishing circuit so I’m hoping to be up there for those.”
Matt Brammeier was also in action and went a second slower than Dunne for 99th while Dunne’s teammate Sean Downey was well down the standings in 174th, over a minute behind Vorobyev.
After today’s penultimate stage is another, longer, lumpier test tomorrow of 184 kilometres.
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