Wikipedia

Conor Dunne

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 Irish National Road Race Championships winner in 2018. Dunne contested the road race at the UCI Road World Championships four times for Ireland, failing to finish the race on every occasion.

Conor Dunne
Dunne at the 2018 European Road Cycling Championships
Personal information
Full nameConor Dunne
NicknameThe Langer
Born (1992-01-22) 22 January 1992 (age 33)
St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Height2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)[1][2]
Weight88 kg (194 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeRouleur
Amateur teams
2009Hemel Hempstead CC[3]
2009–2010Glendene CC
2011–2012VL Technics–Abutriek
2013Iverk Carrick Wheelers
Professional teams
2014–2015An Post–Chain Reaction
2016JLT–Condor
2017–2018Aqua Blue Sport[4][5]
2019Israel Cycling Academy[6]
Major wins
One-day races and Classics
Irish National Road Race Championships (2018)

Career

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Junior and amateur career

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Born in St Albans, Dunne initially represented Great Britain and competed for amateur teams in the UK, Belgium and Ireland. He won the junior British National Time Trial Championships title in 2010,[7] after finishing second in the 2009 race.[3] 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 Rás Tailteann.[8] In 2012 he won the Irish National Men's Under-23 Time Trial Championships, his first national victory as an Irish rider and one of seven career podium finishes at elite and under-23 Irish championship races. Dunne's first victory in a professional race came on stage one of the 2013 Rás Tailteann while riding for Irish amateur team Iverk Carrick Wheelers. He won the 135-kilometre (84-mile) stage from Dunboyne to Longford after outsprinting three-time New Zealand National Criterium champion Michael Northey to the line. After bonus seconds were applied, Dunne held the overall lead by four seconds and also led the points and youth classifications going into stage two.[9]

Professional career

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An Post–Chain Reaction, JLT–Condor (2014–2016)

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Dunne at the 2014 Memorial Van Coningsloo

He signed with An Post–Chain Reaction for the 2014 season. He stayed with the team for 2015, recording a ninth-place finish at Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen before moving to fellow UCI Continental team JLT–Condor for 2016. His first win as a full professional came at the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic in April 2016.[10] 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.[11]

Aqua Blue Sport (2017–2018)

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After moving to Aqua Blue Sport he was named in the startlist for the 2017 Vuelta a España.[12] Dunne finished the race in 158th place, the last classified rider in the final standings.[13]

In 2018, Dunne won the Irish National Road Race Championships; racing over 180 kilometres (110 miles) 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.[14][15] Reflecting on the race, Dunne said "It was massive for me. It’s a race I had been trying to win for a long time. It meant a lot to me and to my partner Stacey and her family too."[16] Stacey's father is Dunne's former team manager and Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly. Kelly won the Irish junior road race title twice, but never contested the senior national event.[17]

Israel Cycling Academy (2019)

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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.[18] He recorded a fifth-place overall finish at the Tour of Antalya that February.

In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Giro d'Italia.[19] 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.[20] Following the Giro d'Italia, Dunne finished ninth at the Fyen Rundt in August.

On 30 December 2019, at the age of 27, he announced on social media that he was retiring from professional cycling.[21]

Global Cycling Network (GCN)

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On 7 January 2020, Global Cycling Network (GCN) announced him as a new presenter.[22]

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).[23]

Personal life

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His sister is tennis player Katy Dunne.[24]

Major results

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Dunne at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships

Source:[25]

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

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Grand Tour 2017 2018 2019
  Giro d'Italia — — 135
  Tour de France — — —
  Vuelta a España 158 — —
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

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  1. ^ "UCI refuses exemption to Conor Dunne for TT position because of 6'8" height". Sticky Bottle. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b "British Time Trial Championship Results". British Cycling. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Nordhaug, Brammeier, Irvine, Dunne first riders named for Aqua Blue Sport". cyclingnews.com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "Israel Cycling Academy finalises 2019 roster, adds Sorensen as DS". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  7. ^ "National Championships Great Britain MJ- ITT 2010 Time trial results".
  8. ^ "An Post Ras 2011 Stage 8 results".
  9. ^ "Dunne sprints to Rás yellow". RTÉ Sport. RTÉ. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  10. ^ "Dunne takes huge win in savage Rutland-Melton classic". 24 April 2016.
  11. ^ "Conor Dunne wins CiCLE Classic 2016 (Gallery)". 24 April 2016.
  12. ^ "2017 > 72nd Vuelta a España > Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Vuelta a España 2017 Stage 21 results".
  14. ^ "National Championships Ireland - Road Race 2018 One day race results".
  15. ^ "Conor Dunne Wins the Irish National Champs 2018". YouTube. 2 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Conor Dunne: Early days in Belgium, Carrick-on-Suir, the future". 15 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Sean Kelly".
  18. ^ "Rick Delaney to pay Dunne's Israel Cycling Academy contract in 2019". cyclingnews.com. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  19. ^ "2019: 102nd Giro d'Italia: Start List". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Giro d'Italia 2019 Stage 12 results".
  21. ^ "Conor Dunne retires at 27". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  22. ^ 2020 Pro Cycling Kits - Hot Or Not? The GCN Show Ep.365. Global Cycling Network – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "We Built A Velodrome! GCN's Garden Hour Record". GCN. 2 May 2020.
  24. ^ "Dunne thrilled to make Grand stand as Aqua Blue aim to make waves". The Irish Independent. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  25. ^ "Conor Dunne". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
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