Cycling National Road Race ChampionshipsPrior to yesterday's national road race championships, defending champion Mark Scanlon was playing down his chances of retaining the shamrock jersey. Racing as a professional with his Ag2r team, he had finished the arduous Tour of Switzerland on Wednesday and with so little time to recover, was concerned his legs would be found lacking in front of his home crowd in Sligo.
He needn't have worried. Scanlon was in the thick of the action right from the start of yesterday's 105-mile race, going clear with six others and then unleashing a devastating last-lap surge which carried him to a rare double.
The clinical execution of his move was echoed by that of French-based Irishwoman Geraldine Gill, who applied a similar coup de grâce on the penultimate lap of the 44 mile women's race and reached the line over two minutes clear. The triumph marked an unprecedented sixth straight title win.
Both races took place on a tough circuit which was a shade under nine miles in length, passing through Sligo town for two miles and taking the riders over wind-exposed, hilly roads which splintered the pack.
The men's race saw this culling process begin from the off; 20 riders were clear after the leg-breaking Tully Hill on the first lap, and by the second time up it an elite seven-man move was clear. Present were three of the four professionals in the field, namely Scanlon, 2002 silver medallist Ciarán Power and David O'Loughlin. Also riding strongly were the French-based duo, Denis Lynch and Philip Deignan, plus domestic riders Brian Kenneally and Paul Griffin.
Notable absentees were former champions David McCann and Tommy Evans, who were regarded as outside chances for a medal but who both missed the move. Together with the other strong riders in the race, they tried to get back on terms but the septet up front were not waiting around, building their lead lap by lap and dismissing any chance of a later regrouping.
Scanlon brought their tacit co-operation to an end on the penultimate lap with a small, testing attack, prompting a flurry of aggression by an impressive Kenneally. Deignan, Griffin, plus the cramping O'Loughlin and Power all suffered as a result, but when Scanlon turned on the afterburners on the 12th and final lap he tore clear of the group.
Time trialling to the finish, he crossed the line over 40 seconds clear of Lynch and O'Loughlin,
Equally delighted in victory was Gill. She rode tempo with breakaway companions Collette Swift, Karen Bothwell and Beth McCluskey for much of the race, but attacked at the feed zone on the fourth of five laps. Pressing onwards, she staved off the chase to win by over two minutes.
It was an excellent performance, and one which highlights her continued presence at the top of what is an improving women's scene.
