A STUNNED MARK Downey was celebrating on Saturday night after he won gold in the men’s points race at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup event in Apeldoorn.
“I can’t believe it,” he told Cycling Ireland after beating France’s Morgan Kneisky and Kazakhstan’s Sultanmurat Miraliyev to win his maiden World Cup gold.
“To be 20-years-old and winning a World Cup is out of this world!
Banbridge’s Downey came into his first World Cup points race with a live chance having won silver at the European U23 Championships earlier this year.
An accomplished ride saw him finish four points clear of Kneisky in second.
“I keep looking at the medal and wondering if it is made of chocolate!” he added.
In the women’s keirin, Rio Olympian Shannon McCurley finished ninth overall having just missed out on qualification for the A Final.
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