Eoghan Clifford wins gold at paracycling World Championships

Eoghan Clifford got the Irish paracycling team's campaign off to a perfect start at the World Championships in Notwil, Switzerland, yesterday, winning the MC3 time trial.

The Galway rider beat closest rival Steffen Warias of Germany by 47 seconds in the hilly 31 kilometre solo race.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” he said. “The course was very hard and that’s the hardest time trial I’ve ever done. I’m absolutely delighted to defend the title, especially as it was on such a different course.”

Also riding for Ireland in the championships are MC2 competitor Colin Lynch, MB contestants Peter Ryan and Dermot Radford plus WB riders Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal.

Road races

All were in action yesterday with Lynch placing ninth in his time trial. Tandem pairings Dunlevy and McCrystal and Ryan and Radford were fifth and 15th respectively in their events.

All Irish competitors are back in action tomorrow with the various road races.

In other news, Dan Martin’s agent Eelco Berkhout has said that negotiations are ongoing in relation to his contract for 2016 and beyond.

Martin has been with his current Cannondale-Garmin team since turning professional in 2008. His current contract expires at the end of this season and the Irishman plus Berkhout need to finalise where he will be racing.

“Things are still going on but I think we will know the direction in the upcoming two weeks,” said Berkhout. “We are almost there, I think. For Dan, he has to make the final decision, of course.

“I have to say the whole market is going really slowly this year. So things weren’t really happening at the Tour de France. There were some contacts but things were not really complete

“Now after the Tour things are starting to come together.”

Martin finished second, second and third on stages in the Tour but missed out on his goal of a victory. He became sick in the second half of the race and so the opportunities didn’t materialise.

“Dan is a winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Lombardy so people know who he is and what he can do,” said Berkout. “Although he didn’t win at the Tour, the high placings he got showed that his form was really good and that he was up there.”

Martin has been with the Cannondale-Garmin team for a long time and could stay if they match others offers.