The Irish NC in Clonmel features a flat 157km road race. No real difficulties, so it should favor the two best Irish sprinters..
Bennett (Jaguar) and Speirs (Magna) will fancy their chances, while topstars like Roche (ING) or Martin (Pendleton's) may go for attacks anyway.. 10 riders in total though may lead to a tricky race..
Both Magna (O'Brien) and Jaguar (Lavery) send the only domestiques for the two mentioned favorites into a breakaway attempt! So Pendleton's (3 riders) may try and chase them..
They tried, yes, but the gap is huge: 8 minutes with 30km remaining! Martin still gives it a go and attacks the bunch, facing a tough challenge for the final 30km!
He went too late though: the leading duo already kicks off the sprint with Martin being 1'40" behind.
O'Brien easily drops Lavery just as they enter the final km..
And he celebrates a rather comfortable victory: Paidi O'Brien is the new road champion for Ireland! Lavery and solo-chasing Martin complete the podium.
The flat timetrial may give us a thrilling battle for the TT-title.. no outstanding or overpowered TT-machine, but still a favorite in Martyn Irvine (Adira)..
One of those, who may have a shot at the title, is Sean Downey (Pendleton's): he's the first to hit the parcours today and will hope for a very long lasting BT!
Nicolas Roche (ING) finishes 4" behind Downey, so it's a first step for Downey..
..and looking at the split-times, now that all riders have crossed the turnaround, it smells like a sensation:
Downey even manages to hold off Martin by 5" and - maybe even better news - also Irvine couldn't ride faster than him, as they crossed the split with the same time! That's quite a surprise..
Dean Martin (Pendleton's) ain't done yet though and he obviously put a bit more effort into his second half of the race: he takes the new BT by 9" on Downey, who lost 14 seconds on Martin til the finish..
Was Martin just that strong or did Downey kind of "overpower" in his first half? Maybe Irvine's time at the finish will tell the story:
and what a story it is! Just like Martin, also Martyn Irvine has an impressive finish and gains 22" on halftime-leading Downey! That's the victory for Irvine, who finishes 13" ahead of 2nd Martin! So that's two titles for CT-teams here in Ireland!
Irish NC in Clonmel features a flat 157km road race. No real difficulties, so it should favor the two best Irish sprinters..
