Newry 3 Day Team DCC Report
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Stage 1
Well what a great weekend at the Newry 3 day for Ronnie, Gavin, Matthew and David all putting in strong rides throughout the 3 stages. First up was the Friday night stage and everyone managed to find sign on and get a warm up in before the rollout. With 15 minutes to go Gavin, Matthew and David decided they didn’t want to be sitting around too long so decided to go for one final spin to keep the legs warm. On the way back Matthew and Gavin stopped for a toilet break while David arrived back at race HQ, to see a couple of Phoenix riders and no one else except a few team cars leaving. With a frantic chase down to Warrenpoint to get back to the group before the race started, a quick chat with the commissaire about the roll out going early seen the race start delayed until the Matthew and Gavin got back to the group. However Matthew arrived to the group first and David asked ‘where’s Gavin?’ Matthew responded ‘He couldn’t sit on my wheel and got dropped, he is probably too far back now, we will have to start without him’. All members of the team made the start of the race.
With the fast stage up and down the Warrenpoint and Newry carriageway, attacks were fairly regular with all Dromara riders active near the front of the bunch. On the final time down the carriageway before heading for the Grenan Road climb Matthew made an attack off the front aiming for the KOH at the top of Grenan Road, at one stage Matthew had a gap of 30+ seconds but was caught halfway up the climb. Ronnie was safely over the climb and David’s aim was to get over the climb with the first group which was going to plan until he was going past Matthew and a call came ‘Wait for me, let me on your wheel’, As the team was riding for Matthew, David sat up until Matthew got back on, shortly after Matthew dropped his chain which resulted in David having to stop and wait, thankfully Chris Magowan was at the roadside and quickly got Matthew’s chain back on, with a small group coming over the hill Matthew, Gavin and David set to work with a few others on the descent to close the gap to the main bunch, Gavin and David managed to bridge across to finish safely in the bunch. Ronnie had great start to the weekend finishing 11th.
Stage 2
Stage 2 was 4 laps of a circuit around Hilltown, Kilcoo and Rathfriland which was fast, windy and wet before turning right at Hilltown to head up Reed Hall, descend into Rostrevor before turning left to up Santa’s Cottage and head to Hilltown for the finish. Ronnie was riding strong and bridged across to the breakaway which at one stage had a 1 min 40 seconds lead. Matthew, Gavin and David got over Reed Hall with the main bunch and all was looking good until the climb at Santa’s Cottage when there was a split in the group and the Dromara riders were on the wrong side of it. There were also attacks in the breakaway which resulted in some several riders dropping back. This meant regrouping and riding strong with a couple of other teams to limit the deficit to the leaders. Gavin, Ronnie and David finished in the group but unfortunately lost 1 minute 22 seconds to the leaders.
Stage 3
With Ronnie top Dromara rider on GC 1 minute 22 seconds down and Gavin and David 1 minute 24 seconds back the GC was out of contention unless one of the riders got in a break. On the coast road from Rostrevor to Newcastle the pace was fast with a 27mph average as the group arrived in Newcastle, a strong break of 10 riders slipped away from Rostrevor and were still out front with a 2 minute gap. Attacks were regular in the bunch ensuring the pace was high. As the group headed up the climb at Bryansford there was a crash in the bunch which resulted in Ronnie going down, unfortunately ending his day but thankfully just a few a cuts and nothing too serious. With Ronnie getting up quickly but in too much discomfort to chase back on. Gavin dropped back to check if Ronnie was still in the race or what had happened. This left Matthew and David in the main bunch which came back together by the time the race hit the tough climb at Rathfriland, Out of Rathfriland and heading for Hilltown and crosswinds split the bunch, With Matthew on David’s wheel, David managed to bring him back to the group. So it was looking like a sprint finish until an English rider went on a solo attack with 10 mile to go and managed to stay away and win by 12 seconds. Matthew and David managed to finish safely in the bunch. Matthew rode strongly all day and ensured he was on the front any time he spotted a Dromara member at the side of the road watching.
A great weekends racing organised by Newry Wheelers, thanks to all the Dromara CC members who were out supporting the team over the weekend.
Many thanks to the Mullan’s and Powerhouse Sport for providing team car support over the weekend.
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