National Road Race Championships

sy

National Road Race Championships on this weekend at Stamullen. Same course as Stamullen GP. So who do you fancy for this? Not sure who is confirmed. Martin , Roche, O'Loughlin Cassidy, Bennett. Roche is on the short list to ride the Tour so he will be making a big effort. Garmin haven't finalised their team yet so Martin would like to hold onto the title. All the National Championships( are on this weekend so Tour Teams should be finalised next week. I wonder does winning the Irish Nationals have any bearing on whether Roiche or Martin are picked on their respective teams.

Dura Ace

The national champs are actually on in Dunboyne.

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_3972.shtml

I'm not sure if Martin is now doing it. Roche has extra incentive this year, as winning would mean not having to wear that new brown and blue monstrosity of a jersey from Ag2R.

smithslist

Martin is not doing it, here's hoping for a good race.

Quigs Snr

You'd have to say Roche is a runaway favourite. The bookies wouldn't be taking any bets on him thats for sure. He will show the opposition more respect this time and race it properly not try to solo away at the half way point, stay away for several laps and then get his pants pulled down at the finish like Waterford in 2007 - a classic display of how to lose the race despite being easily the strongest in it. I reckon O'Loughlin will be in the mix too, I wouldn't be surprised if he won, I'd put my money on him.

Bennett has a chance at a medal too. He could sneak a win, he certainly showed his credentials in the RAS, but it will be much harder to win the champs I think, in the RAS this year there were plenty of bunch sprints but to be in the mix at the champs you need to be able to ride in the break all day long and it might be a year early for him. Hopefully I'm wrong on that and he wins, you never know with him he is constantly defying expectations. Go Sam ! I don't think Paidi will be up to it this year, hard to tell with Kenneally too, if he is doing it he will contend as he only ever turns up for it if he is going well, so if he is there expect top 4 at worst (he has never been outside the top 4 in any nationals that he has shown up for as far as I can remember). One or two of the Ushers could be in the mix for a medal, possibly Lavery too.

Any word on Deignan coming or not ? Someone told me something about that and I can't remember what they said now.

Chips Lovell

Roche has the added incentive too this year of nabbing himself an alternative to that new AG2R kit that everyone seems to hate.

Slideshowbob

where is best place to watch it? any half decent climbs on course?

where is the finish?

what time are they expected to finish?

ryan_sherlock

Slideshowbob wrote: »

decent climbs on course?

where is the finish?

what time are they expected to finish?

I'm giving this a go just to get some intensity on the legs (first race back since breaking my collarbone). It is not exactly a course that suits me as there is around 70m of climb per 20km lap! (So says bikeroutetoaster).

The start/finish is in Dunboyne so I guess somewhere around there is the best place to view.

I'm guessing an average speed of roughly 45kmph to the 168km should be covered in around 3 hours 50 ish...

The race starts at 12pm

smithslist

anybody heard who won today in Vets\Jnr\Women's events?

Chips Lovell

smithslist wrote: »

anybody heard who won today in Vets\Jnr\Women's events?

Rory Wylie of Carrick Wheelers won the vets. Have totally forgotten who won the women's, Heather ??? (but not Heather Boyle).

Was out cheering on LDB and godihatethehills this afternoon, who both raced in the women's.

Chips Lovell

Twas Heather Wilson.

bunnygreen

Congrats to Michelle Geoghegan and Orla Hendron, 4th and 5th,Eddie Lynch 9th in the Vets,good showing.

victorcarrera

Some Pics.

victorcarrera

More Pics.

victorcarrera

Assuming they started at 12:00 noon sharp and distance = 104Km.

The leaders finished @ 2hrs. 25mins approx = Avg 43.15 kph.
The bunch @ 2hrs. 30min approx = Avg 41.6kph.

E@gle.

god i hope that last picture wasnt taken today

zzzzzzzz

So Nicolas Roche is the new national champion - hopefully that will get him selected for the tour this year!

Chips Lovell

Hope so too. Definitely a message to his team that he's in form.

RobFowl

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

So Nicolas Roche is the new national champion - hopefully that will get him selected for the tour this year!

Feckin French team, they actually announced the final selection would depend on the results of the French national champs :rolleyes:

RobFowl

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

So Nicolas Roche is the new national champion - hopefully that will get him selected for the tour this year!

Just checked none of his rivals for the final places in AG2R were in the top 10 in the French RR so looking good.
(Will get a better looking jerseys as well :rolleyes:)
PS Kristian House ex Ras champ UK title winner Cav only 6th

victorcarrera

Attached 5 of 20 pics I have of todays race. If anybody wants more pm me.

jefferson73

http://www.cyclisme.ag2rlamondiale.fr/actualites-comm-detail.asp?id=613

Good news travels fast.

cunavalos

here is a summary of most of the other national championships this weekend. there are a couple of big surprises but the big winners appear to be saxo bank who could be bringing 5 national champions jerseys to the tour

IRELAND – NICHOLAS ROCHE
GREAT BRITAIN – KRISTIAN HOUSE
BELGIUM – TOM BOONEN
HOLLAND - KOOS MOERENHOUT
LUXEMBURG – ANDY SCHLECK
GERMANY – MARTIN REIMER
SWEDEN - MARKUS LJUNQVIST
NORWAY – KURT ASLE ARVESEN
FINLAND – TONY LIIAS
SWITZERLAND – FABIAN CANCELLARA
ITALY – FILIPPO POZZATO
SPAIN – RUBEN PLAZA
KHAZAKSTAN- DMITRI FOFONOV
FRANCE – DMITRI CHAMPION
DENMARK – MATTI BRESCHEL
AUSTRIA – MARCUS ELBEGGER
AUSTRALIA – PETER MACDONALD
NEW ZEALAND – GORDON MACAULEY

I suppose it was best to put a spoiler on the results just in case anyone has any recorded versions to watch tonight

Chips Lovell

The French champion is aptly named.

Raam

The finish for the womens race was very exciting. A big bunch finish.

El Tonto and myself rode out to watch it. T'was a great day for it.

quietobserver

The aussie champion was 3rd in the Ras few years ago

Quigs Snr

Hi Victorcarrera,

I hope you don't mind but I daftly allowed my camera to become full just as the winners crossed the line today and before I could delete anything they were gone. Apart from that I got about 7 minutes of footage which I wanted to use so the rest of my club could have an idea of how the race went, so I used your pics to flesh out the video a bit, I will take them off if you like.

Anyway, heres a link to where the video is if anyone wants a quick (low quality) look at how the Senior and Junior races went today (obviously slightly biased towards my own clubmate). Pardon the occasionally fruity language, lots of folks around and I couldn't control what they all said !

http://www.comeraghcc.com/?p=967

NewDubliner

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

So Nicolas Roche is the new national champion - hopefully that will get him selected for the tour this year!

If he's our national champion, he'll be wearing the national champion's jersey and not the standard-issue team jersey...less exposure for the sponsor.

zzzzzzzz

NewDubliner wrote: »

If he's our national champion, he'll be wearing the national champion's jersey and not the standard-issue team jersey...less exposure for the sponsor.

The sponsors name still goes on to the national champions jerseys. And they stand out a lot more than the normal jerseys.

Grabs people's eyes a lot more so the sponsors/team will get more exposure, not less.

National Champions jerseys are good things!

Here's dan martin's jersey from last year for example:

Caroline_ie

Very happy w/ Nicolas Roche being Irish Champ - I am sure the 'Frenchitude' has a lot to do with his performance! VAS Y NICO!

Malari

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Here's dan martin's jersey from last year for example:

Anyone else think he could have at least turned up to defend the title?

Raam

Malari wrote: »

Anyone else think he could have at least turned up to defend the title?

I heard that he really wanted to, but had to go to a training camp and flights just didn't work out.

Malari

Raam wrote: »

I heard that he really wanted to, but had to go to a training camp and flights just didn't work out.

I thought it might have had something to do with the course not suiting him. Or Philip Deignan, for that matter.

Dodge

Martin defintiely wanted to ride but couldn't make it as he's with the Garmin Camp today

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_4075.shtml

To be honest, it is not really a choice of me not going, it’s more a case that I can’t get back in time,” he said on Thursday. “For one, it means a really late night heading over [to Ireland], and coming back I’d wouldn’t be able to get back here until Monday night. However the team leaves Monday afternoon for team time trial training.”

“Obviously I am gutted because I would love to defend it...one of my dreams was to ride the Tour in the national champions jersey, and going back to the race as defending champion would have been great"

From the same article, Deignan was due to ride but his team wanted him to take a break.

victorcarrera

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Hi Victorcarrera,
I hope you don't mind I used your pics to flesh out the video a bit, I will take them off if you like.

Not at all. Here is a few more of your clubmate.

Slideshowbob

gr8 ride by robin kelly

8th and did he punture at a critical time too?

Quigs Snr

Yeah he punctured at the finish of lap 7 of 8, near the only bit of a climb on the course, by then he had broken away with Paidi and Downey (you can see them away at the end of lap6 in the video), Roche, O'Loughlin, McLaughlin and Irvine came across and the 7 of them took a minute out of the other 6 in the break, then Robin punctured, seized up after the wheel change, cramped, got passed by the 6 and was a minute behind them and in 13th place with a lap to go and the main chase group gaining on him, I didn't think he'd hold on for a top 20 even, but he's a stubborn fecker and once the legs loosened again, he fought back on and then took them in the sprint for 8th (you can hear my surprise in the video !). A great result which we would have taken at the start of the day, but he was pretty disappointed with how it worked out on the day, he might have done a little better and was feeling pretty good. Thats racing though.

If you look at the 7 riders ahead...
Roche: Pro Tour
O'Loughlin, Paidi, McLaughlin : All full time with An Post
Irvine: Formerly of Pezula and still pretty much a full time carded international
Downey, Lavery : Junior internationals, more or less full time and moving to France shortly to begin what will turn into a pro career.

Robin on the other hand was back in work this morning. I guess this is why I love the sport !

quietobserver

fair play to him Robin that is and all the lads

QUigs the ras updates and the National stuff of your site is first class, all i can say is fair play and thanks. its kept me more informed that most sites

out of interest what does robin work at? (hard physical work or what?)

just interested what lads go back to after their bike riding, i remember roger aiken riding the Words last year and the next day back working for Northern Rail. Savage and Humbling

Slideshowbob

quietobserver wrote: »

fair play to him Robin that is and all the lads

QUigs the ras updates and the National stuff of your site is first class, all i can say is fair play and thanks. its kept me more informed that most sites

out of interest what does robin work at? (hard physical work or what?)

just interested what lads go back to after their bike riding, i remember roger aiken riding the Words last year and the next day back working for Northern Rail. Savage and Humbling

getting quite personal there asking what an amateur cyclist works at!!! maybe it's none of ur business and unfair to quigs to expect him to answer such personal questions about his fellow club members!!! ?? !!

quietobserver

yea thats very true.

not intending to put people under pressure. im always just impressed with how lads train and race at the top level. no answer needed really

Dura Ace

Interview with Nicolas Roche here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auysKrEoy5E&feature=channel_page

petethedrummer

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

I'm giving this a go

How did you get on?


Have you seen this?

ryan_sherlock

Did not see that pic but there is a Sherlock Road by one of the rides I do in California.

Sunday, I went into the race with the stated aim of just riding around in the group (first race back) and having a bit of fun at the front on the last few km in. Basically, I just wanted to ride for 4 hours at a reasonable speed.

As long as you can handle a few hard but short efforts, sitting in the group that day was pretty easy. When I finished in the group for 9th in the Shay Elliot my normalized power was around 310-320W for the 3.5 hours, on Sunday it was closer to 240-250W I think.

The course itself was not hard enough in my opinion, too many people looked fresh in the group and pretty much everyone who started finished finished. Races like the Shay/Des Hanlon are much tougher and everyone is toast by the end (races like that suit me more). My first road race, 07 Des Hanlon, of the 100+ starters, less than 20 finished (weather was nuts that day though). The most important thing for me on the day was just staying safe and I have to say the event was very well run on good roads etc... that I can't fault.

I'm going to put up a post about it as it is interesting to see the difference between just sitting in and other races where I actually tried to do something - I may race this weekend and try do something

petethedrummer

Cheers for the report, best of luck at the weekend.

ryan_sherlock

Just a quick report about the race (I was not really there to race so it is not very interesting)

http://ryansherlock.blogspot.com/2009/07/2009-irish-road-race-championships.html

Junior

Gallery now up on thebike.ie - http://www.thebike.ie/national-championships-gallery.html

ryan_sherlock

Junior wrote: »

Gallery now up on thebike.ie - http://www.thebike.ie/national-championships-gallery.html

Great pictures - very very nice.

LDB

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

Just a quick report about the race (I was not really there to race so it is not very interesting)

http://ryansherlock.blogspot.com/2009/07/2009-irish-road-race-championships.html

Sounds like you were strong and comfortable on the day, were you not tempted to go for a placing?

ryan_sherlock

LDB wrote: »

Sounds like you were strong and comfortable on the day, were you not tempted to go for a placing?

Later on in the race I was, but at that point the breaks were gone - I found that my legs were more comfortable then I expected. I have not road raced very much so I used the time in the group to watch how people attack and in what situations people succeed in getting away.

LDB

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

Later on in the race I was, but at that point the breaks were gone - I found that my legs were more comfortable then I expected. I have not road raced very much so I used the time in the group to watch how people attack and in what situations people succeed in getting away.

Ah right. shame.
a couple more road races and you'll be all set for next year!

ryan_sherlock

LDB wrote: »

Ah right. shame.
a couple more road races and you'll be all set for next year!

Yeah - it would be nice if it was a tricky course and in Ireland you get a lot more cred for road stuff.

Getting a top 10 in Nationals seems to be equivalent to Top 30 in the World in MTB marathon racing...

I have the legs for a lot of the road racing, just need to upgrade the brain

Raam

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

Yeah - it would be nice if it was a tricky course and in Ireland you get a lot more cred for road stuff.

Getting a top 10 in Nationals seems to be equivalent to Top 30 in the World in MTB marathon racing...

I have the legs for a lot of the road racing, just need to upgrade the brain

Maybe it would be worth your while joining in with the inter league club that Orwell, Usher, Stagg and a few others do midweek? If they are open to visitors. You'd certainly do well there. I've learned loads in the races that I've done in my own clubs league.