Tim O’Regan takes Waller Cup in Bohermeen from UCD’s Colm Cassidy

Tim O’Regan on his way to a nice win at the Waller Cup

Tim O’Regan (DID Dunboyne) has taken his first win of the season at the Waller Cup in Bohermeen, Co Meath, this afternoon, Sunday. It was also the first victory for the team since its new main sponsor DID Electrical came on board over the winter.

O’Regan said he was “a bit surprised” to have won considering he has done no high intensity training in recent months.

However, he believes his more serious approach in recent months to the cyclocross season has helped him carry good form into the early weeks of the new road campaign, resulting in his win today.

It was a gripping couple of closing miles, with O’Regan having pulled clear with Colm Cassidy of UCD, but with two of the other breakaway men Neil Delahaye (DID Electrical) and Craig Sweetman (Stamullen) never too far behind on the run in.

“At the very end I had Colm Cassidy on my wheel and I was conscious that Neil wasn’t too far back and that Sweetman was with him,” O’Regan told stickybottle.

“In the end, inside the last 500 metres Neil was closing right up and he shouted at me to start the sprint. I think Colm must have panicked a little bit because he went for it fairly far out; he opened the sprint with around 300 metres to go.”

“I knew it was too early because it’s an uphill finish. So when he went by me I jumped on his wheel and in the last 50 metres or so I came around him. It was a surprise that I won but it’s nice to get one early and get a win for the team with the new sponsor. Hopefully now I can keep it going and not lose form and that the other lads on the team will also get some wins.”

The A1 group only gave away a one minute handicap to the A2s today, closing the gap around half way around the opening lap of the 12-mile circuit. From that point on there was some attacking riding, with a number of groups going clear but all being brought back.

However, on the second lap the race spilt with a very large 20-man lead group pulling clear. On the following lap, strongman Delahaye decided he was going to try and cull the numbers, taking off on his own but ultimately being caught.

But eventually the aggressive riding on the fast flat course did split the lead group with O’Regan going clear with Cassidy, Sweetman and John Lynch (Murphy Surveyors) on the fifth lap. Next time around the circuit Delahaye showed some great strength to get across to the leaders alone and make it five up front; crucially two of whom were DID men.

On the final lap, attacking from the two team mates and UCD’s Cassidy saw Lynch fall back, while Sweetman also appeared to be hurting. That aggression among the leaders finally resulted in O’Regan making the winning move with three miles remaining, with Cassidy the first to react and the duo going clear.

However, in the final stretch Cassidy made his move too soon as Delahaye appeared to be getting back up to the leading pair; leaving O’Regan to take advantage for a well time sprint win.

See full results after the photos below. More photos later.