Cycling

Ronan Dunne makes Irish cycling history with fourth overall in downhill World Cup

Dunne ‘super happy’ after concluding round of downhill series in Canada

Ireland's Ronan Dunne finished fourth in the World Cup mountain biking downhill series in Canada on Saturday. Photograph: Bartek Wolinski
Shane Stokes
Sun Oct 06 2024 - 20:12

Ronan Dunne took the best overall World Cup result for Irish mountain biking on Saturday, finishing fourth in the 2024 UCI downhill series.

Dunne (Mondrager Factory Racing) went into the concluding round in Mount Saint Anne in Canada sitting third but had said beforehand that a top five overall finish was a big target. He was 12th last year, the best Irish result at a World Cup ahead of this weekend’s showing.

“It was a great season for me,” Dunne said after Saturday’s race. “I am super happy with how it went, finishing fourth in the overall. I was coming into this last World Cup pretty nervous, sitting in third place. My goal was to finish top five and it is super easy to lose out.

“It was definitely a dream come true to finish fourth. The race went pretty well. I got fifth place in qualifying and then just a slight mishap in my final run, but I still secured a top 10. That gave me enough points to finish fourth.”

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The Red Bull-sponsored rider placed 10th in Saturday’s final round, with Henry Kerr (Canyon CLLCTV Pirelli) the best Irish rider in eighth. Dunne had previously won the Poland round in May.

“I was just nervous coming in,” he said. “It is nice that it is over now and we have six months off before a big season next year. I am super happy with how it went, it has been a dream come true, really.”

Meanwhile Marine Lenehan had a superb performance at the gravel world championships, winning the amateur 19-34 years race on Saturday.

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes is a contributor to The Irish Times writing about cycling