The winning breakaway in the Tom Bourke Midsummer Race in Westport, Co Mayo; Dave Nugent on the front in the middle and eventual winner Paddy Clarke on the far right (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
Paddy Clarke of the Liquidworks-Fitscience team has won the Tom Bourke Midsummer Race in Westport, Co Mayo.
On a perfect night for racing, Clarke proved strongest from a five-man escape also containing David Nugent of Seven Springs, Richard Meaney and James McGreevy of host club Westport Covey Wheelers and Valerio Di Bacco of Galway Bay CC.
Starting in a large scratch group, Clarke along with team mate Jason Prendergast, Nugent and Anthony Murray of Subaru Albion broke away and bridged the two minute gap to the A3 group at around the halfway point.
The race was at that point being led by some of the A4 riders, who had broken clear on the lumpy terrain before the scratch men breakaway caught the main group they were chasing.
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Some hard riding in the group behind the leaders saw the scratch breakaway men shake off all but around 10 of the A3 bunch, and they mopped up the last of those dangling out front with around 25km remaining to the finish.
And while a period of attacking from the lead group looked like it would split them, nothing managed to stay clear and it looked as if a group behind, containing most of the other scratch riders, would get back on terms.
However, with around 16km to go to the finish Nugent finally succeeded in getting a gap, and in the process took the sprint prime.
Richard Meaney of Westport was next to go followed by club mate James McGreevy. They worked well and were joined by Clarke, before all three bridged the gap to Nugent.
A strong effort by Valerio Di Bacco saw him ride solo across the gap to complete the five-man winning break which succeeded in pulling out a gap of over two minutes on the group behind.
In the end it came down to a five way sprint for the line with Clarke edging Nugent for first. McGreevy pipped team mate Meaney for third, with Di Bacco running in fifth.
Liam Corcoran of Castlebar CC then won the bunch sprint for sixth.
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Video Highlights
Tom Bourke Midsummer Race
Sat, June 21st, Westport, Co Mayo
- Paddy Clarke (Liquidworks-Fitscience)
- David Nugent (Seven Springs)
- James McGreevy (Westport Covey Wheelers)
- Richard Meaney (Westport Covey Wheelers)
- Valerio Di Bacco (Galway Bay CC)
- Liam Corcoran (Castlebar CC)
- Michael Devins (Unattached)
- Chris Troy (Castlebar CC)
- Unplaced A3: Paul Dunne (Ballina CC)
- Unplaced A4: David Hanahoe (Westport Covey Wheelers)
- Unplaced Junior: Steven Murphy (Cunga CC)
- First Woman: Noreen O’Toole (Westport Covey Wheelers)
- KOH: Sean Hastings (Westport Covey Wheelers)
- Sprint Prime: David Nugent (Seven Springs)
James McGreevy and Richard Meaney of Westport Covey Wheelers go clear and Paddy Clarke makes his way across as the winning move gets established (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
Some of the fractured field makes its way through really stunning countryside on a summer's even in Co Mayo (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
Clarke was a clear winner with strong man Nugent in second place in the five-way sprint that settled the contest (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
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