Top 10 finish for Ronan Dunne at UCI Downhill World Cup in Leogang
Ronan Dunne in action at Round 1 of the Downhill National Series (Image: AtomCreates)
Irish rider Ronan Dunne produced a top 10 finish at the second round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Leogang with fellow Irish rider Oisin O’Callaghan finishing within the top 20.
After a strong top 25 finish in the opening round of the World Cup last weekend, National Champion Dunne pulled out all the stops to finish eighth in round two today.
Dunne who races with Continental Nukeproof Factory Racing team set a blistering time of 3:01.548 in the final, the quickest run at the time and spent much of the final in the hot seat before someone could better his time.
Dunne ultimately finished in eighth place, less than half a second off the podium. A huge result for the Irish rider, his second best result at a World Cup after a podium finish last year in Snoeshoe.
Commenting after, Dunne said:
“I’m super happy and I was so close to a second podium so that has me pretty hungry for more anyway. The run was perfect, feeing like I messed some sections up but also in general it was just smooth and then quick and yeah, super happy but I just can’t wait to get racing again, it’s been a sick week!”
In round one of the World Cup, former Junior Downhill World Champion, O’Callaghan narrowly missed out on qualifying for the semi-final after the misfortune of losing his shoe mid-course but fought right until the end in a bid to qualify, showing true determination.
The Limerick native made an impressive recovery in round two to finish 17th amongst a highly competitive field in the final, improving on his qualifying and semi-final runs.
Three other Irish riders were in action in Leogang including Chris Cumming (elite) Ross Ennis (elite) and Callum Morris (junior) but they unfortunately did not make it through the qualifying round.
Results – UCI World Cup Round 2
Elite Men
Ronan Dunne (Continental Nukeproof Factory Racing) – 8th (final)
Oisin O’Callaghan (YT Mob) – 17th (final)
Chris Cumming (Continental Nukeproof Factory Racing) – 69th (qualifying round)
Ross Ennis (Independent) – 158th (qualifying round)
Junior Men
Callum Morris (Independent) – 41st (qualifying round)