It was another crash-filled race at the Izu Velodrome on Saturday morning as Team Ireland track cyclists Mark Downey and Felix English struggled.

The pair retired three-quarters into the race after falling more than two laps away from the main group.

As a result, Team Ireland was deemed not to have finished the race.

Mark Downey produced a solid sprint early on in the race but it was the only highlight of an otherwise unimpressive race for the Irish duo.

Denmark finished the race as gold medal winners, earning the nation their third gold of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Track cyclists Lasse Norman and Michael Morkov assumed control in the second half of the race to bring home the top prize in the event.

They pulled away from their competition in the final laps after gaining the lead from Team GB (Great Britain).

Team GB grabbed silver after a late push while Frace took bronze at the Velodrome.

The lead changed hands several times throughout the race after several countries won the early sprint races.

In a race filled with crashes, Team USA came out of it the worst after both their athletes crashed into each other when attempting a handover.

Denmark took the reins in the second half and held on to them as their closest opponents failed to erase the gap they had built up.

Spain won multiple sprint races to aid Denmark in their pursuit for gold and frustrate those chasing them down.

The Netherlands and Belgium fell away while Team GB snuck past France in the final moments to finalise the order of the podium.

Team Ireland will be in action at the Izu Velodrome for the final time on Sunday morning when Emily Kay competes in the Women’s Omnium.

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Shannon McCurley’s early crash brought an end to any hopes that Team Ireland had for the 30-kilometre race held at the Izu Velodrome in Tokyo.

The crash, one of several in the race, involved the European Championships silver medalist and Italian Elisa Balsamo who collided with each other just minutes into the race.

Team Ireland lost two laps as a result with their cyclists focused on clawing back at the gap that had opened up.

However, it became too much for them to counteract and the team withdrew from the race without scoring any points in the sprints.

Team Ireland had to settle for a share of 13th place in the final standings as a result of this.

Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald took gold for Great Britain in the race after a dominant display in the sprints.

Kenny’s fifth Olympic gold in three Olympic games makes her the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history.

The track cyclist moves clear of Charlotte Dujardin as the British female with the most gold medals.

She joins Bradley Wiggins and rower Steve Redgrave in joint-second on the country’s all-time list, only one gold medal behind her husband Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy.

Kenny and Archibald won 10 of the 12 sprints to finish on 78 points with Denmark taking silver on 35 points and the Russian Olympic Committee in bronze on 26 points.

The British duo asserted their dominance on their competitors from the start with a run of three straight sprint wins to kick off proceedings.

The reigning world champions, the Netherlands, failed to mount a serious challenge against Team GB as the side ran away with the gold medal victory.

Next up on the track cycling schedule is the Men’s Madison at 8:55 am on Saturday, August 7th in which Team Ireland cyclists Mark Downey and Felix English will compete.

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He followed in the footsteps of his father Seamus who competed at the 1984 LA Games.

The gruelling four-event Omnium was the first event on Downey’s race schedule at the Games, as he also teams up with Felix English on Saturday for their preferred event, the Madison, which is raced over 50-kilometers or 200-laps.

After four rounds – the Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race and Points Race – Downey finished in 17^th position with a haul of 18 points.

Downey started with a 16^th place finish in the Scratch race, which is a classic first-across-the-line race over 15km for men. Five riders gained a lap on the field, while Downey sprinted with a large bunch all fighting for places.

There was disappointment for Downey in the Tempo race though, as he was pipped for a point mid-way through the race.

The all-out effort saw him drop the wheel and lose a lap along with Andreas Mueller of Austria and David Maree of South Africa.

That resulted in a 20-point deduction which put Downey in 19^th place. The Elimination race followed, which sees the last rider to cross the line at each intermediate sprint eliminated.

Selections are made every two laps, and with speeds averaging 55kph, Downey suffered an early elimination finishing 19^th.

With Downey out of contention going into the Points Race it was a case of keeping out of trouble and keeping the legs fresh for Team Ireland’s target event on Saturday, and he climbed the overall rankings to finish 17^th overall.

Speaking after the race Downey said: “Yeah, I didn’t really know what to expect… I’m an athlete, I like to compete, but look it’s my first Omnium at this level. I threw the kitchen sink at it. It’s not a banging result, it is what it is.”

“We got this race off the back of the Madison, so I’m looking forward to going again with Felix. He’s super motivated back in the hotel so I’m not too disappointed with the result. The level we know is really, really high here so I can’t be too disappointed, and we’ll move forward again.”

Team Ireland track cycling head coach and 2012 Olympian Martyn Irvine added: “Not the race we wanted but it shows we haven’t focused on it in preparation and training. Given the year that’s in it, we were just happy to get a start on the race. It has set us up to build from here, the level has raised, it’s amazing to see what people have actually done through Covid.”

“We have shifted our focus to the main event of this week for us, the last two years we have focused on the Men’s Madison and that’s the main goal on our side.”

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Roche was amongst the early starters tasked with laying down a marker for the field of 35 riders to measure themselves against.

He completed the tough and gruelling 44.2-kilometre men’s Olympic Time Trial in a time of 1:01:23.

Roche had played a key role in supporting Dan Martin in the 234-kilometre Road Race on Saturday, in which Martin finished in 16^th position.

Eddie Dunbar was also part of Team Ireland’s Men’s Olympic Road Race team.

A quick recovery was required as the Time Trial course featured a total elevation gain of 846 meters in hot and humid conditions.

“That was one tough day,” Roche said at the finish line.

“Definitely left it all on the road but obviously against a lot of the top of the world specialists I’m a lot slower than most of them, but I gave it 100%.

“I thank the staff and Cycling Ireland and the Olympic team for their commitment behind me for these Games, and I hope I gave everything I could. It’s been an amazing experience to get my fourth Games, I’m extremely proud.”

Roche previously competed at the 2008 Games in Beijing, the 2012 Games in London and the 2016 Games in Rio.

However, this was the 37-year-old’s first appearance at an Olympic time trial.

This Olympics instalment of the gruelling race against the clock was won by Primož Roglič of Slovenia in a blistering time of 55:04:19, with Roglič averaging 48.3kph.

Roglič did much of the damage on the final lap extending his advantage as the terrain took its toll on the heavier riders.

Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands returned from a brief hiatus from bike racing to claim the silver medal in a time of 56:05.58.

Australia’s Rohan Dennis finished in 56:08.09 to win bronze less than half a second ahead of Stefan Kueng.

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With 4,865 metres of climbing over a distance of 234 kilometres, the course was considered one of the toughest in Olympic history. The searing temperatures and over six hours in the saddle combined to whittle down the peloton with 82 of the 130 riders finishing the race.

24-year-old Cork man, Eddie Dunbar made an attack inside the final 50 kilometres. Dunbar was joined by Remco Evenepoel and Vincenzo Nibali but other nations recognised the danger and acted quickly to close the gap. The decisive move was made on the Mikuni Pass when one of the pre-race favourites, Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) blew the peloton apart on the steep climb. The move saw Eddie Dunbar distanced while Dan Martin remained in contention until a kilometre before the summit. Dan Martin crested Mikuni Pass in a chase group and battled on for a very respectable top 20 finish. Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) won gold with Wout van Aert claiming silver ahead of Tadej Pogačar in a photo finish.

Dan Martin’s reaction

Speaking afterwards today’s road race Dan Martin said:

“We came here with the idea of getting a medal and honestly, it’s been my best experience in an Irish team since I’ve been racing for Ireland. We had the best preparation possible; the staff have been amazing, and we really worked together. It was a great team performance and yeah, unfortunately I just didn’t have the legs when it mattered on the climb. It was super-hot there and I just missed a couple of seconds to be in that front selection that was fighting for the medals.”

The Irish cyclist continued:

“We did a perfect race today in my opinion. I wouldn’t change anything that we did today. That’s a really nice feeling coming out of an Olympic road race knowing that we all did our best. Nico did a great job of keeping me positioned and safe the whole way along and we had staff the whole way along giving us bottles. It really was a great team effort. I want to say thank you to everyone and just unfortunately we couldn’t come away with a medal this time but yeah it’s really promising for the future, how we’re developing as a team. It was really good to race with Eddie as well. I think he’s the future of Irish cycling, so it’s been good to share mine and Nico’s experience with him this week. The future’s bright and we can all look forward towards Paris now and try and improve our performance still.”

EQUESTRIAN

Irish equestrian athletes across all disciplines will wear a yellow ribbon during competition in commemoration of the loss of a highly talented young Irish athlete who tragically suffered a fatal incident in June.

Tiggy Hancock (15) was known across all equestrian disciplines and was a respected member of the Irish Pony High-Performance Eventing Programme. At the young age of 15, Tiggy had already made a mark on the sport and was one to watch whenever she competed, against both senior and youth athletes.

SWIMMING

Ellen Walshe was Team Ireland’s first swimmer in action at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre and she put in an impressive performance to win her Women’s 100m Butterfly heat. Her time of 59.35 seconds was just 0.03 seconds outside of her own Irish Senior Record set in June 2021. Walshe finished in 24th position overall, with the top 16 progressing to the semi-finals.

“It was a strong first swim for me, it’s just slightly off my PB.” Walshe said. “It would have been nice to get another Irish Senior Record but it wasn’t there, I felt strong, but you win some you lose some – I’m happy enough with the swim.”

Walshe is back in action on Monday (Day 3 – July 26th) in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley.

RESULTS

CYCLING:

Men’s Road Race: 16^th Dan Martin (6:00:04), 75^th Nicolas Roche (6:21:46), 76^th Eddie Dunbar (6:21:46).

SWIMMING

Women’s 100m Butterfly Heat: Ellen Walshe, 1^st in heat, 24^th overall with a time of 59.35.

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Dunbar took part in the 2011 European Youth Olympics in Trabzon, Turkey so he feels comfortable in an Olympic setting.

The 24-year-old Irishman is excited to represented Ireland at the Olympics, even if he believes there are bigger events on the professional cycling calendar.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly proud to represent Ireland in the Olympics and I always love representing my country, it’s something that means a lot to me,” said Dunbar.

“But as I said, I think in terms of cycling itself, it’s something that’s you don’t think of like I’m not thinking [of Paris] in three years time, you know, I’m thinking ‘Oh next year I’d love to do the tour’ or ‘I’d love to do the Giro’ or something like that.”

Dunbar is the youngest rider of the trio to represent Ireland on Saturday and will follow in the footsteps of Ireland’s first-ever Olympic medalist, Pat O’Callaghan – the gold medal winner was also from Banteer.

The Olympian was only 10 when a statue of O’Callaghan was erected in his hometown and always heard about the hammer throw champion growing up.

He has also been interested in rugby from a young age and used to get the same Munster players’ autographs every week at Musgrave Park.

“I probably watch more rugby than I do cycling being honest.”

The road cyclist comes into the Olympics off the back of a strong performance at the Tour de Suisse, where he won the prize of Best Youth Cyclist after helping INEOS Grenadiers teammate Richard Carapaz to the Yellow jersey.

His performances from Frauenfeld to Andermatt came several months after a crash at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

He was slow to come back from the crash but felt confident heading into the race in Switzerland.

“I trained super good for two and a half weeks, I got called into Suisse, probably rode the best race my life there.”

The young cyclist is part of the Olympic cycling team ahead of Sam Bennett, who would have got in had the selection process been based on rankings.

However, Dunbar is a specialist when it comes to hills and with the course featuring 4,800m worth of climbing to do, the Banteer man is a good selection for the job.

The cyclist is expecting a different kind of race compared to the tours on the cycling calendar – the race being for one day only is a clear example of the differences it has.

From speaking to Nico Roche and his 2008 Olympics teammate Philip Deignan, Dunbar has concluded that the race relies more on individual confidence and awareness rather than a set strategy.

“I think it’s a race where you have to go in open-minded and see what happens. Just be attentive. And yeah, if you feel good, at a certain point, just go for it, you know?”

To see the Olympic schedule for Irish athletes on Saturday, July 24th, click here.

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In a bunch sprint, the Tour de France green jersey winner of 2020 claimed the 55^th professional win of his career.

The opening day of the Volta ao Algarve was a 189.5 kilometre stage from Lagos to Portimão. It wasn’t as straightforward as the profile suggested, however.

A number of crashes throughout the day meant a lot of riders were absent for the finale. Among them were Shane Archbold and Fabio Jakobsen, who were involved in a small incident with four kilometres remaining. Fortunately neither suffered any serious injury.

Thought the finale was very hectic, Deceuninck – Quick-Step team did their job to perfection. Bennett’s team took up the pace-setting ahead of the flamme rouge and delivered an impeccable piloting masterclass.

Ireland’s top cyclist kicked for home with 125 metres to the line when teammate Michael Mørkøv peeled off the front.

Sixth win for Bennett this season

For the sixth time this season Bennett raised his arms in celebration. He beat Danny Van Poppel (Intermarche-Wanty Gobert) and Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural) by more than a bike length.

It was a first win for Bennett in Portugal on his first racing visit to the Volta ao Algarve.

“The legs felt good, but there were a lot of crashes and we spent a lot of energy coming back to the front and keeping our position,” explained Sam Bennett post-race.”

“I didn’t know how my condition was going to be after a month with no racing and didn’t expect it to be that hard, but I’m happy I could finish it off and I got the yellow jersey as a bonus”, the Irish cyclist added as he became the fifth different Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider in six years to claim the opening stage of the race.

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The Tour de France green jersey holder was perfectly led out by his Deceuninck- Quick-Step team-mate Michael Morkov to snatch his third win of the season after two stages of the UAE Tour.

The Irishman overpowered France’s Arnaud Demare and former world champion Mads Pedersen in a 166-km first stage around Saint-Cyr-l’École, fatal to 2013 and 2015 winner Richie Porte, who crashed with 33 km to go and was forced out on the first day.

On paper, the 165.8km opening day should have been a quiet one, but the attackers had other plans. As  a consequence they attacked in waves inside the last 40 kilometres, forcing the peloton to up the tempo. The peloton began a frantic chase that stretched out the bunch and put many riders in the red.

On the hectic uphill finish, Sam Bennett stayed in a perfect position until the last 200 metres, when he shot out of the pack and sprinted to victory with his hands on the top of his brake levers, putting several bike lengths between him and his opponents.

It was the fourth win of the Carrick-on-Suir native in the “Race to the Sun”, after the ones of 2017 and 2019, one that brought him also two jerseys, yellow and green.

“Coming into the race I didn’t know how my shape would be, because racing here is different from the UAE,” Sam Bennett said. “Here it’s full gas the entire day and today it was another test to see where the legs were. We were a bit blocked in the last kilometres and could come to the front only with two kilometres to go, which was thanks to Michael, who always stays calm and knows what he has to do. I was confident and I just waited for the right moment to go and all I can say is that I’m happy with the kick I had and my victory.”

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Martin, who already had two third-place finishes this week, was taking his first La Veulta stage win since 2011.

Thursday’s 166km stage from Lodosa to Vinuesa featured two categorised climbs, which ultimately decided the outcome of the stage.

The Irishman accelerated inside the last 200m of the stage, out-sprinting Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). The summit finish win was Martin’s first stage win since the 2018 Tour de France.

Dan Martin claims his second stage win on the roads of La Vuelta, 9 years after his victory in Sierra de Béjar-La Covatilla.

“I’ve come so close to winning this year. I just really wanted to win a stage for this team because they’ve been so good to me,” the emotional Irishman said.

“Obviously with the (back) injury at the Tour (de France), I couldn’t win a stage. I was really determined to win today. The team were amazing, and every single one of them played their part in the victory.

“This win is partly for them and then partly for my wife, because this is the first time I’ve won a race since my kids were born and it’s really special.”

Stage three result

1. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation)
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)
3. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers)

General classification after stage three
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 12hrs 37mins 24secs
2. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) +5secs
3. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers +13secs

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The 17-year old from Limerick claimed the UCI MTB Downhill Junior World Championships Title in Salzburg, Austria, on Sunday morning.

O’Callaghan blasted down the 2.3-kilometre course, dubbed the “Speedster” as speeds approaching 65 km/h on the rough terrain to finish in a time of 4:02.142.

O’Callaghan finished ahead of the British pair Daniel Slack and James Elliott to win Ireland’s first ever Downhill world title at the Mountain Bike Championships.

Speaking after claiming the rainbow jersey, O’Callaghan said:

“I don’t think it’s sunk in fully yet, later on I think it will. It’s a bit overwhelming right now. I think every racer aims to win. But top five would have been really good.”

“Everyone has been sending me messages and hoping that I do well. I know lots of people were watching the live timing.”

Teammate Christopher Cumming posted the second fastest time in qualification on Friday, but had to settle for 21^st in Sunday’s final.

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