Ireland’s Ronan Dunne took bronze in the downhill race at the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships in Valais, Switzerland on Sunday, narrowly missing out on silver.
The Enniskerry rider finished less than two seconds behind Canadian winner Jackson Goldstone, and was just 0.047 seconds off Henri Kiefer of Germany in second.
Dunne had a number of crashes earlier this year but bounced back last week to win the World Cup event last week in Les Gets having triumphed in the Bielsko-Biała round in Poland last year.
Dunne’s fellow Irish riders Henry Kerr and Oisin O’Callaghan were 30th and 33rd respectively.
RM Block
Meanwhile, British rider Alice McWilliam took the overall Rás na mBan win, swooping into the race lead on Sunday morning in winning the 2.5km time trial in Kilkenny City.
The Team Phoenix rider overhauled Saturday’s stage winner Noemie Abgrall (Ladynamips RVC team) and overall leader against the clock and defended her lead in the concluding criterium race on Sunday afternoon.
She won the intermediate sprint and was second to Océane Goergen (Ladynamips RVC team) in the final sprint, with the time bonuses for both efforts seeing her end the five-day race 12 seconds clear of Abgrall.
“I am absolutely delighted. It was big goal coming into this race,” said McWilliam.
“I didn’t quite get what I wanted in terms of the stage win early on, but the fact that I retained the jersey after winning the TT (time trial) this morning means I am absolutely buzzing. Taking the TT stage win was an absolute surprise.”
Grace Reynolds (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team) was best Irish rider in the TT, taking third to match the podium finishes achieved earlier in the week by Erin Creighton and Gabrielle Fox.
Reynolds started the concluding stage best of the Irish riders in seventh overall but crashed in the criterium to drop to 21st.
Seventeen-year-old Aliyah Rafferty was second in the intermediate sprint and ended the race seventh overall with her team-mate Esther Wong 10th.
McWilliam won the points classification as Abgrall topped the mountains competition and Olympia Norrid-Mortensen (Torelli) was the best young rider.
The Irish rider classification was won by Linda Kelly.
Rás na mBan
Stage 5, Kilkenny time trial (2.5km): 1 Alice McWilliam (Team Phoenix) 3’32.15”; 2 L Dawson (Brother UK/OnForm) 3.48”; 3 G Reynolds (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team) 4.90”
Stage 6, Kilkenny criterium: 1 Oceane Goergen (Ladynamips RVC) 1 hour 17’; 2 A McWilliam (Team Phoenix); 3 O Norrid-Mortensen (Torelli)
Final general classification: 1 Alice McWilliam (Team Phoenix) 11 hours 38’17”; 2 N Abgrall (Ladynamips RVC) 12”; 3 N Dekker (WV Breda Women CT) 13”; 4 O Norrid-Mortensen (Torelli) 19”; 5 A Cebak (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team) 22”; 6 L Dawson (Brother UK/OnForm) 24”
Points classification: Alice McWilliam (Team Phoenix) – 33 points
Mountains classification: Noemie Abgrall (Ladynamips RVC) – 40 pts
Best young rider: Olympia Norrid-Mortensen (Torelli)
Best Irish rider: Linda Kelly (Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission)
Team: Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team
Paddy Doran best Irish team: Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission
