The new Irish under 23 champion Philip Lavery has said that he is hoping that title plus his bronze medal amongst the Elite riders in Sunday’s road race championships will open some doors for him, both in terms of his programme for the remainder of the season and also in relation to his future.
The Node4 Giordana competitor performed very strongly in the race, being the only one able to remain with UCI WorldTour riders Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma Quick Step) in the finale. He attacked in an attempt to get clear, went again when that was covered, but Brammeier was able to use those two surges as a platform for his own victorious surge.
Lavery’s performance was a very encouraging one for the 21 year old, who this year took stage placings of eighth and ninth respectively in the 2.2-ranked Tour de Beauce and the An Post Rás. He also won the Shay Elliott Memorial and Stephen Roche GP races at home.
Having competed with the An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team last year and then moving to the Node4 Giordana team over the winter, he’s hoping that the championships performance will see team manager Phil Griffiths select him for some good international events.
“I will probably have a little break at home, maybe for a week, then I will give Griffo a ring and see how happy he is with me,” said Lavery after the race, telling VeloNation in a video interview about his plans. “If he is happy I will probably be back over to race in Spain or France very soon, and hopefully build up for the Tour of Britain and show my form. I think today would have helped, even though that is later in the year.”
Longer term, Lavery said he preferred not to give specifics about what he hopes to achieve in terms of his career. “I have been speaking to a few teams, but I don’t know,” he said. “I know where I want to be, but I don’t think it makes any odds saying it now.”
What’s certain is that he took great encouragement from the championships results. “ I am just really happy with the day…it couldn’t have gone much better. If I won the two races, it would have been much better, but I’m happy with the Under 23 jersey and the bronze in the Elite race. I think it opens up a few doors for me now,” he said.
He said that he didn’t have any regrets about his attacks in the finale, even if they left him exposed to Brammeier’s counter inside the final three kilometres.
“I wasn’t confident with Roche and Brammeier [leaving it to a sprint – ed.]. I’ve sprinted against Brammeier before and beat him,” he said. “But today I was cramping a little bit and it wasn’t my kind of sprint…if it was a bit more of a kick, a longer straight from the corner, maybe. But there was always talk growing up that a sprint is the last resort, and that is what I was thinking coming in the road.”