Conor Dunne (born 22 January 1992) is a retired road racing cyclist who rode professionally between 2014 and 2019 for the An Post–Chain Reaction, JLT–Condor, Aqua Blue Sport and Israel Cycling Academy teams. He competed as British in his early career before switching to Ireland, and was the 2018 Irish National Road Race champion.
 Dunne at the 2016 Tour of Britain | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Conor Dunne |
| Nickname | The Langer |
| Born | 22 January 1992 St Albans, Hertfordshire, England |
| Height | 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)[1][2] |
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Rouleur |
| Amateur teams | |
| 2009 | Hemel Hempstead CC[3] |
| 2009–2010 | Glendene CC |
| 2011–2012 | VL Technics–Abutriek |
| 2013 | Iverk Carrick Wheelers |
| Professional teams | |
| 2014–2015 | An Post–Chain Reaction |
| 2016 | JLT–Condor |
| 2017–2018 | Aqua Blue Sport[4][5] |
| 2019 | Israel Cycling Academy[6] |
| Major wins | |
| One-day races and Classics | |
Career
editJunior career
editBorn in St Albans, Dunne initially represented Great Britain and competed for amateur teams in the UK, Belgium and Ireland. He won the British National Men's Junior Time Trial title in 2010 after finishing second in the 2009 race.[7] Dunne was also eligible to represent Ireland and switched his sporting allegiance prior to the 2011 season.
While still an amateur, in 2011 he participated in his first professional stage race at the An Post Rás.[8] In 2012 he won the Irish National Men's Under-23 Time Trial Championship, his first national victory as an Irish rider and one of seven career podium finishes at elite and junior Irish championship races.
Professional career
editHe signed with An Post–Chain Reaction for the 2014 season. He stayed with the team for 2015 and moved to fellow UCI Continental team JLT–Condor for 2016.
After moving to Aqua Blue Sport he was named in the startlist for the 2017 Vuelta a España.[9] Dunne finished the race in 158th place, the last classified rider in the final standings.[10]
Following the collapse of Aqua Blue Sport, in November 2018 it emerged that Dunne would join the Israel Cycling Academy team for the 2019 season. His salary for the year was paid by former Aqua Blue owner Rick Delaney due to Dunne signing a contract with the team for 2019 before it folded.[11]
In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Giro d'Italia.[12] Wearing the Irish national champion's jersey, he completed the race in 135th place and finished 20th on stage twelve from Cuneo to Pinerolo, his highest placing in an individual Grand Tour stage.[13]
On 30 December 2019, at the age of 27, he announced on social media that he was retiring from professional cycling.[14]
Race wins
editDunne's first victory in a professional race came on stage one of the 2013 An Post Rás while riding for Irish amateur team Iverk Carrick Wheelers. He won the 135 km stage from Dunboyne to Longford after outsprinting Michael Northey to the line, and after bonus seconds were applied held the overall lead by four seconds as well as topping the points and youth competitions going into stage two.[15]
His second pro win came at the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic in April 2016 in the colours of JLT–Condor.[16] In a race that was neutralised for twenty minutes while two riders were airlifted to hospital, Dunne overcame the cold and windy conditions to break clear from a ten-rider group in the closing stages and took victory by fourteen seconds.[17]
In 2018, Dunne became the Irish National Road Race champion while contracted to Irish team Aqua Blue Sport. Racing over 180 km on a circuit around Collooney, he finished one minute and one second ahead of Darnell Moore in second and over three minutes clear of Mark Downey in third.[18][19]
Other races
editDunne had top-ten finishes on the UCI Europe Tour at the one-day 2015 Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen and 2019 Fyen Rundt races, and placed fifth overall at the 2019 Tour of Antalya.
Global Cycling Network (GCN)
editOn 7 January 2020, Global Cycling Network (GCN) announced him as a new presenter.[20]
On 2 May 2020 GCN's YouTube channel released a video where Dunne turned his garden into a Velodrome to create a Garden Hour Cycling Distance record with help from his brother-in-law Nigel. The distance covered was 16.3 kilometres (10.1 miles), which was listed as a new record (as there was no existing record in place). His maximum speed was 24.3 kilometres per hour (15.1 miles per hour).[21]
Personal life
editHis sister is tennis player Katy Dunne.[22]
Major results
editSource:[23]
- 2009
- 2nd Time trial, British National Junior Road Championships
- 2010
- 1st
Time trial, British National Junior Road Championships - 2012
- 1st
Time trial, Irish National Under-23 Road Championships - 2013
- 1st Stage 1 An Post Rás
- Irish National Under-23 Road Championships
- 2nd Time trial
- 3rd Road race
- 2014
- 3rd Road race, Irish National Under-23 Road Championships
- 2015
- 3rd Road race, Irish National Road Championships
- 9th Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen
- 2016
- 1st Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic
- 2017
- 3rd Road race, Irish National Road Championships
- 2018
- 1st Road race, Irish National Road Championships
- 2019
- 5th Overall Tour of Antalya
- 9th Fyen Rundt
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
edit| Grand Tour | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
— | — | 135 |
 Tour de France
|
— | — | — |
 Vuelta a España
|
158 | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References
edit- ^ "UCI refuses exemption to Conor Dunne for TT position because of 6'8" height". Sticky Bottle. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ^ Conor Dunne [@conordunnealot] (19 August 2014). "I am 2.04m tall everyone. Which is equivalent to 82 chocolate smarties stacked on each other. I also am able to eat all the smarties" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "British Time Trial Championship Results". British Cycling. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ "Nordhaug, Brammeier, Irvine, Dunne first riders named for Aqua Blue Sport". cyclingnews.com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "2018 rider roster and first races confirmed". Aqua Blue Sport. Aqua Blue Sport Limited. 1 January 2018. Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Israel Cycling Academy finalises 2019 roster, adds Sorensen as DS". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ "National Championships Great Britain MJ- ITT 2010 Time trial results".
- ^ "An Post Ras 2011 Stage 8 results".
- ^ "2017 > 72nd Vuelta a España > Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ "Vuelta a España 2017 Stage 21 results".
- ^ "Rick Delaney to pay Dunne's Israel Cycling Academy contract in 2019". cyclingnews.com. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "2019: 102nd Giro d'Italia: Start List". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ "Giro d'Italia 2019 Stage 12 results".
- ^ "Conor Dunne retires at 27". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/fbd-insurance-ras/2013/stage-1 2013 An Post Rás, Stage One
- ^ "Dunne takes huge win in savage Rutland-Melton classic". 24 April 2016.
- ^ "Conor Dunne wins CiCLE Classic 2016 (Gallery)". 24 April 2016.
- ^ "National Championships Ireland - Road Race 2018 One day race results".
- ^ "Conor Dunne Wins the Irish National Champs 2018". YouTube. 2 July 2018.
- ^ 2020 Pro Cycling Kits - Hot Or Not? The GCN Show Ep.365. Global Cycling Network – via YouTube.
- ^ "We Built A Velodrome! GCN's Garden Hour Record". GCN. 2 May 2020.
- ^ "Dunne thrilled to make Grand stand as Aqua Blue aim to make waves". The Irish Independent. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
- ^ "Conor Dunne". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
External links
edit- Conor Dunne at UCI
- Conor Dunne at ProCyclingStats
