Irish professional cyclist David McCann has won the prestigious Manx International for the second time, repeating his 1996 victory in a hard-fought four-man sprint for the finish line on the Isle of Man today. Although regarded as something of a non-sprinter, McCann picked his moment perfectly to jump clear inside the final 400 metres of the 1.5 world-ranked race and, using a smaller gear to open a six-length lead, just managed to hold off the challenge of former British national champion John Tanner.
McCann's Ireland team-mate Tommy Evans was next home in the hectic dash for the line, getting the better of Tanner's Compensation Group team-mate Mark Lovatt to repeat his third place of last season. The four riders had gone clear towards the end of the 3 lap, 113 mile event, and while McCann and Tanner pressed ahead on the final run-in to the finish, the former Irish champion elected to ease back and wait for Evans to rejoin up front in order to maximise their chances of winning the race.
"I am delighted with the performance of the team," said Team Ireland manager Declan Byrne afterwards. 'I knew going into the race that we had a very strong line-up and were capable of winning. Everything went very well and although the two Compensation Group riders were very strong on the final lap, David and Tommy were able to cover all of their attacks and then worked well together to ensure that a Team Ireland rider won."
Filed by Shane Murray
