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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Philip Lavery (Usher Irish Road Club) showed he will be one of the favourites at this Sunday’s junior road race championships in Waterford when he raced to an excellent victory in the Stephen Roche GP last night.
Lavery made the most of his handicap as a junior rider to attack immediately after the drop of the flag, chase, and eventually catch the back of the Senior 1 bunch. This lap gained saw him gain an almost unassailable advantage over all the other riders, with anyone aiming to win also needing to take a lap.
After pulling off the cheeky, but highly impressive move, he worked his way to the front of the bunch and policed breakaway attempts to make sure that nobody got a significant gap.
Lavery took primes on laps two and four, while Joe Murphy (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group) took one two laps later. Three special primes were included on laps ten, fifteen and twenty. Included to mark the 20th anniversary of Stephen Roche’s stunning 1987 season, they were named Giro, Tour and Worlds.
Roche senior was present to officially start the race, while his son Nicolas was giving himself a final tune-up prior to the time trial and road race national championships tomorrow and Sunday.
The Crédit Agricole rider completed the Giro d’Italia earlier this month and hasn’t done much racing since, although he and his squad did race to eighth in the Eindhoven Team Time Trial ProTour race last Sunday.
Roche took the Giro prime, tying in with his participation in that race, while Adrian Hedderman (MyHome.ie/BDBC) was first across the line for the Tour sprint. Mark Nestor (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group) took the Worlds prime.
A break went clear in the final laps and Padraig Marrey (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group) was first home of these to finish second behind Lavery in the final race result. Tim O’Regan (My Home.ie/BDBC) and Roche were third and fourth, while Urban Monks (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group) and Stephen O’Sullivan (My Home.ie/BDBC) completed the top six.
Graham Thomas (Orwell Dundrum Town Centre) beat Stephen Halpin (Swords CC) for the senior 2 prize. Shane Hurley (unattached), Loran Davoust (Eurocycles) and Tony Brabazon (Sorrento) were best of the senior 3, junior and veterans respectively.
“It was quite extraordinary what Philip Lavery did,” said Paul Tansey of the promoting Orwell Dundrum Town Centre club. “He took off from the line, and managed to catch the back of main field after about four laps. He then sat there for the rest of the night, so the others would have had to effectively would have had to lap him to win.
“He’s only 16 years of age and had to make up about 30 seconds on the senior 1 riders to do what he did. He was very strong. The bunch started quite slow, he got clear from his group and got across in approximately four laps. He then marked the front of the bunch all the time, keeping an eye on anyone who was trying to go clear.
“A break of about eight riders went in last few laps, finishing approximately 20 seconds ahead of the bunch. He couldn’t go with them, and that settled the other prizes.
“At one point Philip rode up to Nicolas to let him know that he was a lap up. Nicolas was riding very well but he said afterwards that he was happy to use the race for training. He went clear at one point and looked really smooth.”
Apart from waving the flag to start the race, Stephen Roche also officially launched Joe Daly’s new bike shop in Dundrum earlier in the day. Roche sr. then flew to London this morning for Eurosport-related work. He will do commentary for the channel during the Tour de France.
* In addition to the smooth running of the race, the Orwell Dundrum Town Centre club had another boost yesterday with the news that the centre will continue sponsoring the team until the end of 2008.
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Stephen Roche Grand Prix, Meadowmount:
1, Philip Lavery (Usher IRC)
2, Padraig Marrey (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group)
3, Tim O’Regan (My Home.ie/BDBC)
4, Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole)
5, Urban Monks (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group)
6, Stephen O’Sullivan (My Home.ie/BDBC)
Senior 2:
1, Graham Thomas (Orwell Dundrum Town Centre)
2, Stephen Halpin (Swords CC)
Senior 3: Shane Hurley (unattached)
Junior: Loran Davoust (Eurocycles)
Veteran: Tony Brabazon (Sorrento)
Primes:
Lap 2: Philip Lavery (Usher IRC)
Lap 4: Philip Lavery (Usher IRC)
Lap 6: Joe Murphy (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group)
Giro, lap 10: Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole)
Tour, lap 15: Adrian Hedderman (MyHome.ie/BDBC)
Worlds, lap 20: Mark Nestor (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group)
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