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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
BRAMMEIER BEST OF IRISH IN ELITE WORLDS
By Shane Stokes / Pictures Gary McIlroy
25 Sep 2011,
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Irish road race champion Matt Brammeier was best of the Irish team in today’s elite road race at cycling’s world championships, finishing 36th in the big sprint to the line. He and Nicolas Roche, who placed 51st, finished in the same group as the winner Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), who justified his tag as race favourite.
Cavendish unleashed a powerful sprint on the drag up to the line, beating Matt Goss (Australia) and Andre Greipel (Germany) in the gallop. He became the first British road race champion since Tom Simpson in 1965.
Ireland’s third rider, Dan Martin, was involved in an attack which went clear on the fourteenth out of seventeen laps. This move was away for several kilometres but was brought back by the Great Britain-led peloton. Martin finished the 266 kilometre race 19 seconds back in 90th place.
Cycling Ireland’s high performance director Phil Leigh spoke afterwards about how things played out. “The race was just very, very fast. They were doing at 46, 48 kilometres per hour and it was just impossible to attack,” he said. “Daniel did get into a little move that was away for a while, but the Brits essentially controlled it. They were very strong.
“Nico [Nicolas Roche] was right in the mix of it going into the last corner, but people kept pulling off and he had to go around them. At the end he ran out of legs. Matt finished strongly, event though at the start of the week there was a question mark over him riding it [due to illness]. He got through it well and was just outside the top 30.”
He and the Irish riders had agreed beforehand that they would wait rather than going with the early move, as Brammeier did last year. A group did get clear and build a large lead, then was chased down by the British team. Leigh said that with the way the race played out, it was difficult to show. “All of the riders had a good ride, but the race was just very controlled and very fast. Unless they went in an early move, which we didn’t want them to do, it was hard to do something.
“They went up the climb to the finish at 45 kilometres an hour, so it was very difficult to attack.”
The season continues past this point and Leigh stresses the importance of the riders continuing to race hard. “Matt is down to do Paris Tours. Nico is going to Beijing and will come back for Lombardy, and Dan has got Lombardy. I’m hoping that Philip [Deignan] might also have some more races left with RadioShack.
“With regards Olympic qualification, we are in line to get four places for London but we need to keep getting points to make sure. There’s two races left for that, Beijing and Lombardy, and we need to get something there.”
Today’s race completes the world championships. Ireland’s best performance in the eight days of competition was the sixteenth place secured by Ryan Mullen in last Tuesday’s junior time trial.
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| Matt Brammeier (Ireland) |
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| Nicolas Roche (Ireland) |
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| Daniel Martin (Ireland) |
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| Mark Cavendish of Great Britain winning the Elite men UCI World road race championships in Copenhagen - Picture courtesy of Gary McIlroy |
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| 36th place Matt Brammeier (Ireland) same time as winner |
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| 51st Nicolas Roche (Ireland) same time as winner |
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| 90th place Daniel Martin (Ireland) at 19 secs |
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| 2011 World Road Race Champion Mark Cavendish of Great Britain |
Pictures from the event courtesy of Gary McIlroy
World road race championships, Elite men (Copenhagen):
1, Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) 266 kilometres in 5 hours 40 mins 27 secs
2, Matthew Harley Goss (Australia)
3, André Greipel (Germany)
4, Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
5, Jurgen Roelandts (Belgium)
6, Romain Feillu (France)
7, Borut Bozic (Slovenia)
8, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
9, Oscar Freire Gomez (Spain)
10, Tyler Farrar (United States Of America) all same time
Other:
36, Matt Brammeier (Ireland)
51, Nicolas Roche (Ireland)
90, Daniel Martin (Ireland) at 19 secs
More later...
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IMAGES COPYRIGHT:
Any images included in this article remain the property of the photographer, by whom all rights are retained, 2011 ©. Use of images for electronic or print purposes is may be possible with the express, written permission of the photographer.
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