Isaac Speirs away on his own

Junior rider Isaac Speirs yesterday performed impressively in the Traders Cup race in Dundalk, attacking shortly after the start of the handicap event, opening up a two minute lead over the bunch he was with and holding off all chasers until the point when the race was stopped with just over one and a half laps to go. The reason for the event cancellation was an accident on the course which saw some riders hit a car and come down.

Speirs won the combined race last week in Navan and made the most of his limit group start yesterday to go clear and knuckle down into a committed solo effort which he hoped would see him reach the line ahead of the pursuing Senior 1 and 2 competitors.

“I went just after the race started,” he told IrishCycling.com. “I got a good lead. I was getting some time gaps along the way and was told that at the three laps to go point I still had about six minutes on the A-B bunch. I felt good, I think I could have held on had the race not been stopped.”

Speirs certainly had a good chance of making it first to the line. With just under three laps to go he was two minutes and 20 seconds clear of the combined Senior 3/junior/veterans bunch, and five minutes 46 ahead of the first of the Senior 1 and 2 chasers. Then, one lap later, he was two minutes and six seconds and four minutes one second clear, respectively.

“I heard a few guys saying that the race was cancelled but I kept going,” he said “However, once I reached the point where the accident had happened [one lap earlier], I was stopped. That was it, then; it is a pity.”

Pat O'Shaughnessy, chairman of the promoting Cuchulainn cycling club, explained to IrishCycling.com why the race ended prematurely. “There were a couple of problems,” he said. “Firstly, with the ambulance gone to bring the rider for treatment there was no cover for the race. It would have been too risky to continue without it. Secondly, the police were still measuring the road [in terms of the location of the cars when the accident happened] and I decided, in the interests of safety, that the race should be stopped.”

IrishCycling.com has heard suggestions that those who signed on yesterday will be able to enter the promoting club’s event later this year free of charge. We hope to confirm this soon. We would also like to wish the riders involved in the crash a swift recovery.