Bertoni Gorey 3 Day - NE

Ireland, April 15-17, 2006

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Stage 4 - April 17: Gorey - Brittas, 58 miles

Byrne wins Bertoni Gorey 3 Day, Whelan repeats

By Shane Stokes

Orwell Dundrum Town Centre rider Declan Byrne won the Bertoni Gorey 3 Day this afternoon, beating Robin Kelly (Comeragh CC) and Sean Rock (McNally Swords CC) by seven and 11 seconds respectively. Byrne finished in the main bunch on stage one and then took over at the top of the general classification in Saturday’ morning’s time trial, finishing a strong second to Tony O’Malley (All Systems Dublin Wheelers).

The final stage from Gorey to Brittas was marked by a dangerous break which included overall rivals such as Isaac Speirs and Stephen Halpin (both Irish junior team), but Byrne’s Orwell squad managed to haul this move back with about three miles remaining. Stagg’s Lucan rider Brendan Whelan then comfortably won the bunch sprint from Sean Rock (McNally Swords), Richard Malone (Ena Loakman Remax), Colm Crawley (Stamullen M Donnelly) and Linus Murphy (Polar SR).

Declan Byrne said he had been riding the race for 20 years and was delighted to finally come out on top, especially as he hadn’t thought the final yellow jersey was possible. “I trained hard this winter with the hope of taking a stage in the race,” he said. “Second on a stage was my best result in the past, I also rode for Aidan Hammond when he won the race himself a few years back.

“I did a lot of long endurance training in the winter and that obviously paid off. It has taken the edge off my sprinting but it helped me do a good time trial. That was actually my first time starting off kind of late…my TT was around 11 o’clock. In other years it was earlier and I felt that I was not really fully awake on the bike. Aidan Hammond gave me some good advice before the time trial, telling me to do a good, hard warmup of about an hour. I’d normally do less than that. I think the tailwind also helped, as it suited the bigger guys on the high gears. I was doing 70 kilometres per hour on one of the downhills, so I think the junior riders lost out a bit there on their restricted gearing.”

Moving into yellow after that time trial ride, Byrne said he had moments of panic during the two remaining stages. However team-mate Hammond’s reassurance and assistance was of great help, he said, as was the strong riding the others on the Orwell – Dundrum Town Centre squad did.

“With Aidan there it definitely helped. I was pretty worried when breaks got clear and built a big lead, particularly on the final stage when the move got over two minutes. But Aidan was telling me to relax. We would let the breaks build a lead, tire themselves out, then try to get them back before the finish. From all the times riding this race before I knew that if a break had just a minute and a half at Baltinglass on the final stage, it would be brought back by the bunch before the line. However this time they had two minutes, so I was definitely starting to get worried then.

“Luckily my team did a great job, and there were also guys from other teams who themselves wanted to try to get things back together before the end, in order to go for the stage. After Baltinglass the gap started to come down we could see the cavalcade and that definitely helped, as regards encouragement. We finally got them just after Blessington and at that point it was too late for something else to go clear. So it all worked out very well.

How it unfolded

154 riders lined out at midday in Gorey for the start of the final stage, a mainly flat 58 mile leg to Brittas. As soon as the flag dropped a group jumped clear and quickly opened up a strong lead. The sixteen strong group was comprised of Isaac Speirs and Stephen Halpin (both Irish junior team), Will Byrne (Murphy Surveyors), Sean Bracken and Aidan Yates (Usher IRC), Andre Engemann, Dylan Rafter, Cian Crowley and Eamon Peregrine (St. Tiernan’s), Laurent Dumoulin (Kanturk Credit Union), Bjorn Ivar Ekberg (Polar SR), Urban Monks (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), Andre Lemke (Team Tec), Jonathan Gormley, Noel Maloney (both Ravens CRT) and Robert Murray (Limerick).

As the Tiernan’s riders said afterwards, this was a premeditated move. “We talked before the start and decided to have a go,” said Crowley. “We made sure we were right at the front before the race moved off and as soon as the lead car accelerated away after the neutralised section, we went for it. The gap opened and everyone started working well together, so we built a decent lead.”

The group opened up a gap of over two minutes, causing quite a bit of concern back in the bunch. Speirs and Halpin had started the day fourth and fifth overall, both less than 20 seconds off yellow. Ekberg, Byrne and Engemann were also in the top twenty in the general classification, being 28, 31 and 34 seconds back respectively, while Monks was 21st, 35 seconds down. The move therefore spelled a clear danger to Byrne’s yellow jersey.

However, as Crowley’s team-mate Dylan Rafter said afterwards, their task was made more difficult by the weather. “There was a headwind and that made it pretty hard up front,” he said. The sixteen riders did what they could to battle on, but gradually some of them started to crack and fall off the pace. The break was finally caught about three miles from the line, paving the way for the bunch gallop won by Brendan Whelan and Byrne’s overall victory.

“I’ve been riding this race for 20 years and winning it means a lot,” the latter said. “I know a lot of people who work on it and they and others have been coming up to me, clapping me on the back. I am honoured to win the Gorey, I feel very privileged.”

Byrne and others praised those who work on the race, including Sam Darcy and Alice Sherratt. The late Betty Darcy was also fondly remembered with the introduction of a new trophy for the best senior 2 rider in the race, which went to Derek Doyle (Stagg’s Lucan).

Another who got the thumbs up was the new race sponsor Eddie Lynch of the Bertoni menswear stores. He took part in the event himself, finishing a strong 18th overall and taking the prize for best veteran ahead of Denis McCarthy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) and Sean Bracken (Usher IRC). “Cycling is a fantastic sport, it has really given me a lot. And so I am very privileged to support this race,” Lynch stated, confirming that his backing will continue next year.

His support coincided with a impressive showing by his Orwell – Dundrum Shopping Centre team. Besides taking the overall and veteran’s prizes, they also netted the women’s award and that for best club team, finishing ahead of Comeragh CC and Polar SR.

Louise Moriarty guested for the squad during the event and her women’s classification win was very impressive. She finished a full eight and a half minutes up on team-mate Jenny Fay, over 20 minutes ahead of Roisin Kennedy (Stagg’s Lucan) and placed 62nd overall out of the 146 mostly-male finishers, 1 minute and 11 seconds back. Byrne also mentioned her as one of those who did a lot of driving on the final stage.

In terms of the other placings, Robin Kelly (Comeragh CC) was outside the top six in the gallop but his consistent showing this weekend saw him win the points classification from Brendan Whelan and Sean Rock (McNally Swords). Tom Shanahan (Limerick CC) beat Andre Engermann (St. Tiernan’s) and Rock in the mountains competition.

Speirs was best junior, ahead of Halpin and Diarmuid Cronin. Derek Doyle (Stagg’s Lucan) took the Betty Darcy trophy for top senior 3 rider, with Robert Murray (Limerick CC) and Barry Flanagan (Kanturk Credit Union) second and third.

Results

1 Brendan Whelan (Staggs Lucan CC)             2.22.22
2 Sean Rock (McNally Swords CC)
3 Richard Malone (Ena Loakman Remax)
4 Colm Crawley (Stamullen M Donnelly)
5 Linus Murphy (Polar SR)
6 Dave Rawlins (South Dublin CC) all

KOM prime near Shillelagh

1 Noel Moloney (Finglas Ravens)                      3 pts
2 Andre Engermann (St. Tiernan’s)                    2
3 Stephen Halpin (Irish Junior Team)                 1

Club team

1 South Dublin/Eurocycles                      7.07.06
2 Polar SR
3 Comeragh CC both

Final general classification

1 Declan Byrne (Orwell Dundrum SC)             7.38.19
2 Robin Kelly (Comeragh CC)                       0.07
3 Sean Rock (McNally Swords CC)                   0.11
4 Isaac Speirs (Irish Junior Team)                0.13
5 Stephen Halpin (Irish Junior Team)              0.18
6 Tom Shanahan (Limerick CC)                      0.20

Points

1 Robin Kelly                                       14 pts
2 Whelan                                            12
3 Rock                                              11

King of the Mountains

1 Tom Shanahan                                      11 pts
2 Engermann                                          7
3 Rock                                               6

Women

1 Louise Moriarty (Orwell Dundrum Town Centre)  7.39.30
2 Jenny Faye (Orwell Dundrum Town Centre)          8.30
3 Roisin Kennedy (Staggs Lucan)                   27.17

Junior

1 Isaac Speirs                                  7.38.53
2 Halpin                                           0.05
3 Diarmuid Cronin (Irish Junior Team)              0.12

Veteran

1 Eddie Lynch (Orwell Dundrum Town Centre)      7.38.53
2 Denis McCarthy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group)    0.02
3 Sean Bracken (Usher IRC)                         0.04

Senior 3

1 Derek Doyle (Stagg’s Lucan)                   7.38.56
2 Robert Murray (Limerick CC)                      0.03
3 Barry Flanagan (Kanturk Credit Union)            0.11

Club team

1 Orwell Dundrum Town Centre                   22.56.15
2 Comeragh CC                                      0.11
3 Polar SR                                         0.12