IRELAND KICKED OFF the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in style as Ronan Grimes sealed a bronze medal in the men’s C4 individual pursuit.
Thursday’s action signalled the first day of the championships proper after the Para-cycling Track World Championships individual pursuit qualifying took place on Wednesday.
Grimes qualified in the men’s C4 individual pursuit while women’s tandem pairing Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal qualified for the individual pursuit bronze medal ride on Friday.
Grimes put in a brilliant ride to record a time of 4:34.015 to comprehensively beat French rider Gatien Le Rousseau and seal a bronze medal – the first of Ireland’s UCI Cycling World Championships.
“I’m really emotional after that,” Grimes said.
“I think it’s probably the best result that I’ve done. I know last year I won the road race, but in an individual pursuit against the strongest C4 field that’s ever been there – I wasn’t expecting to get that medal.
Ronan Grimes takes an emotional Bronze Medal in the MC4 Individual Pursuit 🥹
— Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) August 3, 2023
The Galway man claims Ireland first medal at the UCI Cycling World Championships 🤩#GlasgowScotland2023 pic.twitter.com/ACc91hlBpW
“The French rider I was up against beat me in every time trial this year so I thought this wouldn’t work. It wasn’t a great ride or as fast as yesterday but there was a bit of ‘grunt’ there that got me through the line. I’m delighted.”
Grimes was also in men’s C4 omnium action as he picked up 22 points with a 10th place finish in the 200m time trial. He will also be back in action with the 1km time trial qualification on Friday.
In the 1km time trial final, Dunlevy and McCrystal set a strong time of 1:11:580 to finish in sixth place and build up some track time ahead of Friday’s bronze medal ride.
The pair qualified for the final earlier in the afternoon with a time of 1:11.183 ahead of the evening’s final. They will be back in action in the individual pursuit bronze medal ride on Friday evening.
“This morning we had the qualifiers and we just gave it our all,” Dunlevy said.
“We came sixth, and we were actually hoping not to, but it actually became a good thing and we were able to get some more track time and work on a few things for tomorrow (individual pursuit bronze medal ride) so we’re happy.”
On Friday’s individual pursuit bronze medal ride, Eve McCrystal said: “I think if we can deliver the ride that we just did there, we used to get more track time almost as the first four laps of the ride-off tomorrow.
“It went well, I feel a lot more comfortable on the track. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, fingers crossed.”
Report courtesy of Cycling Ireland.
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