Cycling Reports

World Championships

 From Cian Lynch with Grant Thornton Team Ireland in Lisbon, Portugal

Junior Time Trial, 19.2 kms.

With hopes high that Clondalkin man Tim Cassidy and Philip Deignan of Letterkenny could do well today, there was a great sense of optimism in the grant Thornton team Ireland camp this morning.

Deignan was the first Irish man off, starting strongly. Given that the course was mostly uphill, the majority of the work was going to have to be applied in these sections. The course the juniors raced over today is the same course as that of the men's elite road race. Riding consistently, it was apparent that Deignan rode well within himself, and remarkably his splits varied very little when referred to after the event.

Cassidy on the other hand had a very different ride today. Working with his gearing well, Tim rode competitively early on, and posted the 12th fastest split at 4.5km, which was at the top of the first climb. Recalling after the event how he found it hard to find his rhythm, Cassidy was none too surprised to find out how he dropped back to 26th, then 35th and finally to 44th.

The duo performed well against the top junior time triallists in the world, where 79 finished the event. Where time trialling is not as prominent in Ireland as here abroad, the result shows that Ireland can look to produce even more competitive riders for this discipline.

1. Van Der Broek (Bel) 27:28.20 2. Kvackuk O. (Ukr) +0.44 3. Scheuneman N. (Ned) +0.78

44. Cassidy T. (Irl) +2:46.07 51. Deignan P. (Irl) +3:10:02

Jeannie Longo of France produced a truly remarkable ride, when she pulled out all the stops (including a sprint style lunge across the finish line - not too common in time trialling) to take yet another world title by less than one second in the elite women's time trial.

National champion and CCC Mat professional, David McCann competes in tomorrow afternoon's 38.2km elite men's time trial. Up against the likes of Jan Ulrich and David Millar, McCann will know that finishing with a solid ride in this company will satisfy. The Belfast man is more than comfortable here, having competed well internationally this year, also having represented Ireland at the Olympics twice.