Video: National champions Brammeier and Spath look forward after weekend triumphs
Irish riders planning on continuing to race well this season and into 2014Having both successfully defended the Irish road race championship titles they took last year, Matt Brammeier and Melanie Spath are aiming to ride strongly for the remainder of the season and boost their standings prior to 2014. Brammeier has been racing with the Champion System team and on Sunday clocked up a record fourth consecutive road race title when he won a three man sprint in Carlingford. Closely watched by the other competitors in the race, he was nevertheless best in the finale. “I am pretty happy, I really didn’t expect it. I say that every year but I managed to pull it off. I am pretty happy,” he told VeloNation in the video interview below. Having first taken the distinctive Irish champion’s jersey in 2010 while he was with the An Post team, then retaining it with [...]
Video: Irvine back on the bike and aiming to race in three month’s time
World scratch race champion ahead of schedule in recovery from broken legA little over two months after he suffered a bad fracture to his leg in the Tour of Taiwan, UnitedHealthcare rider Martyn Irvine has got back on his bike and has moved closer towards a return to competition. The world scratch race champion attended the finish of the An Post Rás on Sunday and gave an update then as regards the rapid progress he has been making. “I had a broken leg, recovery and no crutches any more, so I’m back on the road,” he told VeloNation in the video interview below. Irvine has been regularly attending the Sports Institute in Northern Ireland and receiving guidance from them. “They are steering me, what to do and what not to do. Kind of holding me back off the bike because the muscles are all screwed up,” he said. However that [...]
Video: Bennett eyeing Irish national championships win or Tour of Britain stage in contract hunt
Two An Post Rás stage victories underline progressionWinning two stages in the An Post Rás has given Sam Bennett a vital confidence boost after a long period of time without a victory and now, believing in himself a lot more than before, the 22 year old Irishman has identified two big targets in the upcoming months. The An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly team rider will tackle the first of those in just under four week’s time when he lines out in the Irish national road race championships in Carlingford. He was under 23 champion two years ago but with a course that suits him and a strong team behind him, could be a contender for the elite title. “It is a nice course this year, nice and flat, and hopefully I can use my sprinting legs to get another win,” he told VeloNation yesterday. Last year he was in strong [...]
Video: Bialoblocki celebrating top career result after overall victory in An Post Rás
Polish rider takes overall as Bennett leads home An Post team one-two-threeHaving appeared reserved and quiet when speaking on the podium and to the media since he took over the yellow jersey in the An Post Rás last Tuesday, Marcin Bialoblocki’s overall victory in the race yesterday saw the Polish rider finally able to relax, savour the moment, then leap high in the air and let out a large yell of jubilation. The celebration on the podium was in marked contrast to an almost-withdrawn comportment in the days leading up to the final in Skerries and was, he explained afterwards, all about the pressure finally being off. For five days he was deadlocked on time with Connor McConvey (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku) and Rasmus Guldhammer (Denmark Blue Water Cycling), holding the jersey by virtue of better stage placings. And while either one of those two needed to simply gain one second [...]
Video: Bialoblocki feeling increasingly confident about An Post Rás win, dreams of WorldTour contract
Twenty nine year old Polish rider impressive in Irish raceHaving controlled the attacks of his top rivals on yesterday’s final big mountain stage of this year’s An Post Rás, Marcin Bialoblocki is upbeat about his chances of holding on to win the race today. The Polish rider appeared visibly more relaxed after battling through the Wicklow mountains, and while his two closest rivals need to gain a mere second to win, he believes that unless something untoward happens that he should be in yellow this evening. “I think that if nothing bad happens, any – fingers crossed – crash or anything, that we have it,” he told VeloNation after the stage. Connor McConvey (Synergy Baku) and Rasmus Guldhammer (Denmark Blue Water) are both equal on time to Bialoblocki, with the latter holding the yellow jersey by virtue of better stage placings. Both did their utmost to dislodge him yesterday, but [...]
Roger Aiken video: Strong Wicklow mountains ride in An Post Rás underlines Irish amateur’s class
Despite strong form, no national championship plansAlthough he has been up against full time professional and international riders in this year’s An Post Rás, Irish amateur Roger Aiken has shown himself to be every bit as strong as them over the past seven days. The Louth Prague Charter rider has performed superbly since the race began, holding a top ten position for much of the race and yesterday going agonizingly close to a stage win after he and two others held of a hard-chasing peloton into Naas. Aiken attacked prior to the day’s two first category climbs, Drumgoff and Wicklow Gap, riding away from the other general classification contenders and joining up with the lone leader Tomas Okrouhlicky (Czech Republic AC Sparta Praha) after the summit of the latter. The time gained made him race leader on the road, although yellow jersey Marcin Bialoblocki and his UK Youth team were [...]