Peter comes oh so close to first win

BANBRIDGE CC's Peter Lilley came agonisingly close to his first win of the 2010 on Saint Patrick's Day in Donboyne, Co. Meath.

Peter spent the majority of the race clear of main field in a significant break that featured some strong riders such as Philip Cassidy (Engraveit.ie), Tiernagh Murphy (South Dublin CC), Shane Baker (Usher IRC) and Loughbrickland's Liam McGreevy who is competing in Planet X colours for the 2010 season.

Despite a combined effort from the main bunch the strong breakaway group worked well together and maintained a healthy advantage from the remainder of the field. With less than 15km to go South Dublin CC's Tiernagh Murphy jumped clear of the front bunch in a solo bid for victory.

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The remaining breakaway riders were forced to lift the pace and in doing so quickly reduced to five riders with only 7km of racing left. By the time the front riders had reached the finish it looked like the five chasers had caught Murphy, but the South Dublin man managed to hold off a surge of speed from Banbridge's Lilley in a close finish that would require the judges to refer to the photo finish.

The strong display from the young Banbridge rider will no doubt be encouraging to him ahead of the international Tour of the North held over the Easter weekend.

Others to note Peter's strong display included the Cycling Ulster road commission who have named him as part of the Ulster squad to tackle round one of the Subway Irish National Classic League in Letterkenny, Donegal on Sunday.

Also riding in Dunboyne was Banbridge CC's Adrian Finnegan in the 'B' race. Like his club mate, Adrian spent the majority of his day in the main break and worked hard to hold a small advantage over the large chasing bunch.

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Unfortunately for the Gilford man the break was caught in the closing stages of the race and a large bunch sprint was in order, with Brendan Whelan of Staggs Lucan winning ahead of Derek Finnigan, Liverpool Century, in another finish that had to go to the photo finish. Adrian finished safely in the main bunch after his efforts in the break.