Conor Dunne (born 22 January 1992) is a retired

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most comm ...

who rode professionally between 2014 and 2019 for the , , and 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.

Career

Junior and amateur career

Born in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, 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 The British National Time Trial Championships for cycling are held annually. The winners of each event are awarded with a symbolic white cycling jersey featuring blue and red stripes, which can be worn by the rider at other time trial events in ...

title in 2010, after finishing second in the 2009 race. Dunne was also eligible to represent

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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 Rás Tailteann (; "Tailteann Race"), often shortened to the Rás, is an annual international cycling stage race, held in Ireland. Traditionally held in May, the race returned after a hiatus in 2022 as 5 day event held in June. By naming the rac ...

. 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 stage from

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in County Meath, Ireland, north-west of Dublin city centre. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitan ...

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

after outsprinting three-time

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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.

Professional career

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

He signed with for the 2014 season. He stayed with the team for 2015, recording a ninth-place finish at

Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen The Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen is a cycling race held annually in the province of East Flanders, Belgium. It is part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in ...

before moving to fellow UCI Continental team for 2016. His first win as a full professional came at the

Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic The Rutland–Melton International CiCLE Classic is a road bicycle race that starts in Oakham and finishes in Melton Mowbray. The 2008 version was 158 km long. The race is characterised by its off-road sections and short, sharp climbs on n ...

in April 2016. 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.

Aqua Blue Sport (2017–2018)

After moving to he was named in the startlist for the

2017 Vuelta a España The 2017 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in Spain between 19 August and 10 September 2017. The race was the 72nd edition of the Vuelta a España and the final Grand Tour of the 2017 cycling season ...

. Dunne finished the race in 158th place, the last classified rider in the final standings. In 2018, Dunne won the Irish National Road Race Championships; racing over on a circuit around

Collooney Collooney or Coloony () is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. Toponymy Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as the ''Annal ...

, he finished one minute and one second ahead of Darnell Moore in second and over three minutes clear of

Mark Downey Mark Downey (born 3 July 1996) is an Irish road and track cyclist, who currently rides for French amateur team Côtes d'Armor–Marie Morin–Véranda Rideau. As a junior he competed at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships in the Men's juni ...

in third. 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." 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.

Israel Cycling Academy (2019)

Following the collapse of Aqua Blue Sport, in November 2018 it emerged that Dunne would join the 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. He recorded a fifth-place overall finish at the

Tour of Antalya The Tour of Antalya is a multi-day road cycling race held annually in Turkey. It is part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Intern ...

that February. In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the

2019 Giro d'Italia The 2019 Giro d'Italia was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race organised by RCS Sport that took place mainly in Italy, between 11 May and 2 June 2019. The race was the 102nd edition of the Giro d'Italia and was the first Grand Tour of the ...

. Wearing the Irish national champion's jersey, he completed the race in 135th place and finished 20th on stage twelve from

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

Pinerolo Pinerolo (; ; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemi ...

, his highest placing in an individual Grand Tour stage. Following the Giro d'Italia, Dunne finished ninth at the

Fyen Rundt Fyen Rundt is a professional single-day cycling race held annually in Denmark. It is part of the UCI Europe Tour in category 1.2. The race has been held since 1894, making it one of the oldest cycling races. Winners Amateur Professional ...

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

Global Cycling Network (GCN)

On 7 January 2020,

Global Cycling Network Global Cycling Network (GCN) is a cycling-related YouTube channel which was launched in the United Kingdom in 2013. The channel's parent company, Play Sports Network, became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit in 20 ...

(GCN) announced him as a new presenter. 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 , which was listed as a new record (as there was no existing record in place). His maximum speed was .

Personal life

His sister is tennis player

Katy Dunne Katy Dunne (born 16 February 1995) is a British tennis player. Dunne has won nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circuit. On 28 May 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 212, and in ...

Major results

Source: ;2009 : 2nd

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

, British National Junior Road Championships ;2010 : 1st

, British National Junior Road Championships ;2012 : 1st MaillotIrlanda

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

;2016 : 1st

;2017 : 3rd Road race, Irish National Road Championships ;2018 : 1st MaillotIrlanda

Road race, Irish National Road Championships ;2019 : 5th Overall

: 9th

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Conor 1992 births Living people Irish male cyclists Sportspeople from St Albans European Games competitors for Ireland Cyclists at the 2015 European Games English male cyclists British male cyclists English people of Irish descent 21st-century Irish sportsmen 21st-century British sportsmen