Rory Townsend has won the elite men’s Irish road race title at the National Road Championships in Kanturk, Co Cork, today after aiming to control Eddie Dunbar on the part of the course where the Ineos Grenadiers man may have done most damage.
The 26-year-old WiV SunGod rider went on the attack early in a bid to ensure he was ahead of Dunbar on the early climbs – on the opening 103km loop - so the local man couldn’t put him under pressure with his world class climbing attacks.
Townsend got clear in that early breakaway with eventual silver medal winner Cormac Mcgeough (Wildlife Generation) as well as eventual U23 gold medal winner Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) and last year’s U23 champion John Buller (Amicale Bisontine). Once clear, Townsend encouraged the riders he was with to make sure they were still out front on the climbs where he feared Dunbar could do the damage.
Advertisement
That approach proved successful because, though Dunbar rode over to the breakaway on his own, the leaders were over the hardest climbs by the time Dunbar got across. And when he did make the front group, Dunbar later appeared to pay for his early efforts and was distanced in race promoted by his home club O'Leary Stone Kanturk.
Eventually it was Townsend and Mcgeough, both of whom put in fantastic performances today, who found themselves leading the race on the final lap of the 15km finishing circuit. And on that lap Townsend had more than his rival; dropping Mcgeough and beating him to gold by 26 seconds for an emotional victory.
Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost – who was in a chasing group that got very close to the leaders several times during the race – won the sprint for the bronze medal some 2:25 down on Townsend.
Young Harvey – though he was distanced from what proved to be the winning breakaway – had the legs to take 2nd in that chasing group sprint, for 4th place in the race. And that was enough for the U23 gold medal; a super result after a brave and impressive ride.
The U23 TT champion, Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) was also in the chasing group and finished just behind Harvey to take 5th in the race and U23 silver. Jesse Ewart, an Australian-born Irish rider compering with Bike Aid, was also in the chasing group and placed 6th.
After his early efforts, Dunbar finished in 7th place, on his own at 4:20. Another 4:13 elapsed before Archie Ryan (Jumbo Visma Development Team) led home the second chasing group on the road, some 8:36 down on the winner, to place 8th and take the U23 bronze.
Ryan was just one place ahead of another U23 rider, Rás stage winner Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing) in 9th, with James Jenkinson of Trek DAS also in that second chasing group and rounding out the top 10.
Overall, it was a day of two groups – the early breakaway and a strongman’s chasing group. While those two groups threatened to merge several times, they never did. And though Dunbar put in a massive charge to get across to the early leaders, he later slipped back.
How it unfolded
Today the combined elite and U23 race was run over a 103km large loop following by four laps of the 15km finishing circuit. The opening minutes of the race saw all-out aggression with a very large number of riders on the attack.
Michael Phelan (Spellman Dublin Port), George Peden (Team PB Performance), Adam Ward (Team SmartDry Girona Cycling City) and Dillon Corkery (CC Etupes) were among the first to go up the road; Corkery going repeatedly in the early phase of the race in a bid to get ahead before the series of climbs.
Stephen Clancy (Team Novo Nordisk) and the EvoPro Racing duo of Mitchell McLaughlin and Tom Moriarty were also among those lighting up it early, as were eventual gold and silver medalists Townsend and Mcgeough as well as Rás Tailteann winner Daire Feeley (All Human/VeloRevolution) and Gareth O’Neill (Team Caldwell Cycles).
Related News
Eddie Dunbar was among those also surging forward, joined by Corkery, though they were recaptured as Darragh McCarter (Spellman-Dublin Port) and Odhran Doogan (Team Caldwell Cycles) also added to the aggression.
As the field – down to less than 30 riders because of the early pace – approached the Black Banks climb, Townsend was on the attack again. And it was that move that proved the decisive attack of the race. He was soon joined by Harvey, Mcgeough and Buller in a group that proved the foundation for the gold and silver medal rides.
They soon had 45 seconds and it was Townsend who stepped up to take most of the early responsibility for pulling out the gap. Despite the efforts of all four, their advantage was pegged back to 25 seconds as Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing) attacked from the remains of the bunch.
As the gap went out again, Ben Healy (EF Education First) attacked and was brought back by Dunbar; their pace again bringing the four leaders much closer. But that was followed by a stall and the gap going back out to 45 seconds.
As the leaders hit another climb, Dunbar attacked from the bunch and rode across to the leaders solo as Buller lost his place up front.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jesse Ewart (Team Bike Aid) and Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) then set off in pursuit of the four leaders as the race blew to pieces. Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing) and Archie Ryan (Jumbo-Visma Development Team) were then on the attack trying to get across to the Healy-Ewart-Rafferty group.
And though that group containing Healy, Ewart and Rafferty got to within 15 seconds of the four leaders, they couldn’t catch them. Just as it appeared the catch would be made, the gap gradually grew again, going back out to 45 seconds.
A third group was also on the road, some 1:30 back, and containing: Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing), Archie Ryan (Jumbo-Visma Development Team), John Buller (Amicale Cycliste Bisontine), Mark Dowling (All Human/VeloRevolution and Dillon Corkery (CC Etupes).
With 100km covered – and the riders about to start the finishing laps – the four leaders had 50 seconds over Healy-Ewart-Rafferty and 1:40 to the next group. By the start of the laps – with 60km to go – the leaders had just over one minute on Healy-Rafferty-Ewart.
But by the end of the first lap – with three remaining – the gap between the first chase group and the four leaders was down again, this time to just 24 seconds and soon dropped to just 13 seconds; with the catch looking inevitable. The gap then went as low as nine seconds before creeping back out again as Harvey was in trouble up front and was distanced.
By the start of the third lap – with just 30km remaining – Harvey had been caught by the chasers, who were just over 20 seconds down on leaders Townsend, Dunbar and Mcgeough. However – again – the gap went over 30 seconds once more as Dunbar was suffering on the climb on the penultimate lap and was distanced by Townsend and Mcgeough.
As the two leaders took the bell, they had 40 seconds on the chasers, with both Dunbar and Healy losing contact with that chasing group. Up front, Townsend looked like he was putting Mcgeough under pressure as the two leaders had 45 seconds on Rafferty-Harvey-Ewart, with Healy 15 seconds behind that trio and Dunbar another 10 seconds back.
However, when the gap between the leaders and chasers went out to one minute it was clear Mcgeough or Townsend would be champion. Townsend then attacked and rode clear alone towards the coveted gold medal as Mcgeough easily held off those behind for silver.
Healy managed to get back up to the chasing group and beat them in the sprint for the bronze, while Harvey just held off Rafferty in the U23 gold-silver scrap within the chasing group. A little further back, in the second chasing group, Archie Ryan just beat Kevin McCambridge in the sprint for the U23 bronze.
- For full results, please follow this link
