Kelly Murphy and Eileen Burns have finished 17th and 18th respectively in the Time Trial at the European Championships in Glasgow today. The 32.3km testing course was won by Ellen Van Dijk of Netherlands, with her teammate Anna Van Der Bruggen taking silver. Trixi Worrack (GER) won bronze.


Murphy finished in a time of 45.15, three seconds faster than Irish team mate Burns, who suffered a puncture in the closing 300m. Both riders were competing early in the race, and Ballymena’s Burns was first over the line, briefly occupying the ‘hot seat’ finishing as the first rider over the line.


 


In a Time Trial the riders have an ear piece, and are given information and advice throughout – Irish Team Manager Kurt Bogaerts was following Burns and informing her of her position during the race – “I had Kurt in my ear and his encouragement helped me to keep pushing.

 


“Once I knew I passed the first two riders before the ten-mile mark I knew. I wanted to be the first rider over the line. I know there was a girl a few behind me that actually won the Rás na mBan a few years ago, and I knew if anyone was going to catch me it’d be her.

 


“I’m just disappointed because coming in 300m to go I stood up to sprint and my back wheel blew – so I couldn’t go hard over the line because it was the disc wheel, and it would just have broken in bits, so I just had to come rolling over the line.”


The circuit was a testing one on a wet day – “the course is a bit of everything – it started to rain there. There’s a lot of draggy sections – there’s no dominant hill – it’s just constant work and as the time goes on it just takes it out of your legs and your body.”


Murphy pushed hard in her Time Trial – as the twelfth starter today – “I just wanted to ride hard and I definitely did that – I lost the ability to see towards the end. It was a really testing sort of course and there’s no option but to get your head down and dig.”


On a rainy morning the wet roads added another element to the race – “The rain didn’t help matters really but it’s the same for everyone. It was a bit sketchy in places, but that makes it an interesting race, hopefully today it would have made it quite an interesting watch.

 


Later this afternoon Eddie Dunbar and Ryan Mullen will compete in the Men’s Time Trial. Last year Mullen won a bronze medal in this event, and he will be the second last starter in the 45.7km race at 13.32. Dunbar will be the fourth rider down the ramp, starting at 13.03.


History is made this week when Glasgow and Berlin host the inaugural European Championships, an exciting multi-sport event bringing together some of the continent’s leading sports, including the existing UEC cycling championships.



RESULTS


Women's Time Trial

Gold Ellen Van Dijk (NED) 41:39

Silver Anna Van Der Bruggen (NED) 41:41

Bronze Trixi Worrack (GER) 42:48

17th Kelly Murphy (IRL) 45:14

18th Eileen Burns (IRL) 45:17