Scanlon makes triumphant return home

MARK SCANLON returned to his native town to parade his immense cycling talent for the first time since he won the world junior title.

The people of Sligo turned out in their thousands, and he responded with a powerful display of strength and courage to retain the national championship title in spectacular fashion.

The 22-year-old westerner, who rides for the professional AG2R Prevoyance team in Europe, covered the testing 105 miles in 4 hours, 1 min, 38 secs 46 seconds faster than the teak-tough Corkman Denis Lynch, who took the silver, with another professional, David O'Loughlin (Ofoto Lombardy Sports), five seconds further back in third place.

They were at the head of a group of seven riders who dominated the race from the second of 12 laps in an uncompromising 12.75-mile circuit.

Also up there was another of the pre-race favourites, Ciarán Power (Navigators), the silver medallist last year, Brian Kenneally (Cidona Carrick), silver medallist two years ago, Paul Griffin from Tralee, and teenage Philip Deignan (Usher), who was involved in the action from the start.

In fact the young Dubliner initially got away from Scanlon. That was a few miles into the second lap, after the defending champion who only returned from the Tour of Switzerland on Thursday had spent some time testing the waters.

"I honestly did not feel good at all," Scanlon admitted. "I went out on Friday and again yesterday and my legs were tired. They felt awful. And for the first lap, I did not feel good at all.

"But my Directeur Sportif told me before I came home that my legs would probably feel heavy after the Tour of Switzerland but not to worry, I had so much racing done I would be all right after a few laps. That's how it was. I got better as the race progressed but I was still very cautious. I rode most of the laps on a very low gear."

His cause was helped considerably when Tommy Evans, who has dominated Irish cycling since last month, missed the break. He got to within 100m of the leading group on the climb but lost touch again on the descent, and eventually watched the proceedings from the top of the hill.

The leading group went over four minutes clear before Eugene Moriarty and two-time winner David McCann closed the gap, but they pulled clear again on the penultimate lap and were 3:45 clear at that point.

Kenneally and Scanlon attacked on a number of occasions, eventually shedding Deignan. Paul Griffin attacked on the last lap, and when Scanlon counter-attacked he found himself on his own. Suddenly he was 40 seconds clear at the foot of Tully Hill.

"I was amazed there was nobody with me," he said. "I had come around at that stage and I felt good. It was a matter of getting to the line."

On the climb, Ciarán Power cramped and began to drift back. Then David O'Loughlin cramped it first hit him two laps out and most disappointed of all was Brian Kenneally.

Scanlon, however, was always going to be difficult to beat in front of the home crowd. "I think this was my first race in Sligo since I won the world junior title," he said. "There was a lot of pressure on me to win."

He added: "It was nice to win the jersey for a second time. It got the ball rolling for me last year and I got the professional contract."

His team was back preparing for the Tour de France, but he was not sorry to be missing that.

"There is plenty of time. I was not disappointed at all. In fact I was happy to miss it." He will take a break now before rejoining his team for races in Belgium, Denmark and France.

With Brian Kenneally fourth and John O'Shea 10th, it was left to Martin O'Loughlin to complete the scoring for Cidona Carrick, who reclaimed the team title after four years.

Martin O'Loughlin, who was hospitalised after a bad pre-season crash, will travel to the world B championships in Switzerland next Thursday as manager of the Irish team.

Meanwhile, Geraldine Gill (St Quintanis) made the quick trip home from France to win the women's title for the sixth successive year at the national cycling championships in Sligo yesterday.

Gill, who hails from Navan, may have waited around a bit longer than usual, but when she decided to get on with it, some 15 miles into the 65-mile race, she was a class apart.

"She just rode away from us at the feeding station on the second lap," explained runner-up Collette Swift (Old Portlians), who hails from Fermoy but is based in Surrey.

She was the only one to respond to the attack but admitted afterwards it may not have been the correct move.

"When I went, it broke up the group, and when I lost contact and we got together again it was too late to get organised and chase. There were a lot of bends on the course and she was out of sight. She was riding very cleverly all the time."

Collette and her colleagues will leave for the world B championships in Switzerland on Thursday without the national champion, who is based in Lannion in France, where she is coached by Francois Bachon.