# 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 2018 Irish National Road Race champion.

## Career
### Junior career

Born 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. 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. 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 under-23 Irish championship races.

### Professional career

He 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. Dunne finished the race in 158th place, the last classified rider in the final standings.
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.
In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Giro d'Italia. 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.
On 30 December 2019, at the age of 27, he announced on social media that he was retiring from professional cycling.

### Race wins

Dunne'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 135km 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.
His first win as a full professional came at the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic in April 2016 in the colours of JLT–Condor. 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.
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. 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.

### Other races

Dunne 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.
Dunne contested the UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race four times for Ireland, failing to finish the race on every occasion.

### Global Cycling Network (GCN)

On 7 January 2020, Global Cycling Network (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 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).

## Personal life

His sister is tennis player Katy Dunne.

## Major results

Source:

### 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

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