5 Key Takeaways From the Rónán Dunne Podcast
Rónán Dunne was WynTV's Privateer of the Day at Leogang in July of 2021, when he secured his first top 30 result. He then went even better in Les Gets where he cracked the top 20 for the first time with a 17th. At that point, just three years ago, he was funding his own race season and even had to pay for his bike.
From being a top 30 contender to a podium finisher with his second place at Snowshoe in West Virginia last fall, the Irishman has made a name for himself in a very short time. Now, the 21-year-old Irish rider has signed with Mondraker Factory Racing, where he'll be teammates Ryan Pinkerton and Dakotah Norton and have a dream race setup.
We talked about his rapid rise through the sport, being mates with Jackson Goldstone, how he kept his broken scaphoid a secret until he'd signed a contract for 2024 on the dotted line, signing for one of his dream brands, what riding a bike with telemetry for the first time was like, how many Red Bulls he drinks on race day, and more.
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On His Rapid Rise Through the Sport in the Past Three Years
![Ronan Dunne laid down a heater that only his compatriot Oisin O Callaghan could better.]()
On Consistency & Feeling The Need To Keep His Broken Scaphoid A Secret
On The New Team & Telemetry for the First Time
![Your top five Elite Men here in Snowshoe - Oisin O Callaghan Ronan Dunne Dakotah Norton Loris Vergier and Bernard Kerr.]()
On His New Teammates Dakotah Norton and Ryan Pinkerton
![Dunne and dusted. Second place for the other Irishman.]()
On Getting Fired Up For Race Day
From being a top 30 contender to a podium finisher with his second place at Snowshoe in West Virginia last fall, the Irishman has made a name for himself in a very short time. Now, the 21-year-old Irish rider has signed with Mondraker Factory Racing, where he'll be teammates Ryan Pinkerton and Dakotah Norton and have a dream race setup.
We talked about his rapid rise through the sport, being mates with Jackson Goldstone, how he kept his broken scaphoid a secret until he'd signed a contract for 2024 on the dotted line, signing for one of his dream brands, what riding a bike with telemetry for the first time was like, how many Red Bulls he drinks on race day, and more.
Ronan Dunne was the WynTV Privateer of the day at Leogang in 2021. Photo: Rick Shubert.
On His Rapid Rise Through the Sport in the Past Three Years
 | I think my first World Cup race, my name was on the results list and people were like, "Oh, who the hell is this guy?" Like he's never been here before, what was this? Then when it was on the results list the next week at the top 20, they're like, "Who is this Irish kid?" I think I remember seeing Jackson [Goldstone]'s first video on the little kids push bike and I was always a mega fan of just general riders and stuff. It's pretty insane to actually like be best mates with him. But it's kind of cool to see his whole insane career and the season he had this year was pretty crazy. Even in Snowshoe, like crossing the line, knowing I got a podium and the first person there is Jackson Goldstone to give you a hug. It's pretty cool to know him. It's cool to see how his career has been growing as well. It's definitely pretty surreal. From being a junior, I was just definitely like nobody because I wasn't even qualifying as a junior. I just definitely didn't have the pace there. Then coming to Elites, I didn't really know what to expect. Then every race you did better and you got to meet like more of your heroes, it'd be Danny Hart or Amaury Pierron. I think it was my first World Cup and for my race run, Amaury was behind me, he was the rider next behind me. I was like, "Oh my God, he's going to catch me for sure." Then you're becoming friends with all these guys. It's still pretty crazy how quick it has happened. I think this time three years ago, we just got our downhill bikes for our first Elite World Cup. It's pretty insane just how quick. I don't really know how we kind of got to this point. Just riding bikes fast, I think, and trying to keep your head down and doing some good work. It's kind of happened. Only really in the past year that I'd actually do proper training and proper fitness and get to the gym and stuff. But yeah, before that was more just okay, let's ride our bikes as fast as we can and see what happens. So yeah, I don't really know how, but kind of got here at some stage really. |
Ronan Dunne suffered a broken scaphoid midway through the 2023 season, but still went on to a career-best finish at the penultimate round in Snowshoe.
On Consistency & Feeling The Need To Keep His Broken Scaphoid A Secret
| I was like, get this sorted as early on as possible, so when it comes to Mont-Sainte-Anne or Snowshoe, I'm not like, okay, so who am I riding for now? Like, let's go. It was a bit annoying, well not annoying, but if you had a bad weekend, you're like this is damaging. Let's go talk to a team after I just flattened myself on live TV. Or I broke my wrist halfway through the year and I was like "are they going to see this now?" Mid season, after Red Bull Hardline, I think was. I finished off the sketchiest Hardline with the wind and stuff, even though we didn't race, like probably the most dangerous conditions. Then I go home and I was like, "Oh, I'll go for an easy ride" and clipped something on a pretty flat track and just plopped into the rocks. It wasn't a big crash but I was like, my wrist feels kind of weird. It turns out I fractured or broke my scaphoid and I was like, "Oh my God." All I was getting told is it's a tricky one. You have to be super careful. I was like, "It's okay. It'll be fine. It'll be fine for Fort William." Then I got a scan just before Fort William practice day and they're like, "Oh yeah, that's definitely eight weeks." I was like, "I don't think I'm going to make practice." I kept telling myself it wasn't broken. I didn't put up any Instagram posts or tell anyone. I was like, "it's perfectly fine. I'll keep it hush hush." It wasn't ideal and it was my first time I've missed a World Cup or World Champs due to an injury so it was a bit hard and especially during the middle of the season because the season was going so well and then that happened it wasn't the best. I remember going to meetings and playing with my hands behind my back just so they wouldn't see this big cast. Or I think it was in Fort William, I missed out on World Champs because my wrist was just no go and I was meeting with some teams and I was like, "just say the wrist is sprained, don't say it's broken so they're not thinking that you're a bit of a wild card." So yeah, it was a bit tough doing it in between the races, but I'm happy I did it that way. It was easier coming into the end. |
On The New Team & Telemetry for the First Time
| It's definitely a pretty bougie set up, feels like a super cross or F1 kind of team. When we were in Alicante looking at the factory, just going around the factory, I call it kind of like the McLaren building. It's this insane factory and just going in there and seeing all the old school bikes up until the recent one, I was like, wow, okay, this season we're going to need to go fast now. Then we saw our new team truck. I was like, Oh my God, this is a factory team. It's crazy. There's definitely no excuses at all. Even having a physio and stuff was just like, wow. Our mechanics were putting on telemetry - I never really used telemetry at all before. I think I've used it once or twice. Then we were using it every practice run and the mechanics are like, okay, what did you feel there? I was like, yeah, it was good. I didn't really know what to say. Yeah, pretty crazy stuff. That was the most testing I've ever done. Usually I pick a setup and I just stick to it through the whole season. The bike might get a little bit harder throughout the season. The first team camp we did a track walk and stuff. I was like, wow, this is big time. Then we tested a lot on the bike and pretty much just went from there. But yeah, it was pretty insane putting on telemetry and fine tuning stuff, which was bit of an eye opener for sure. I think me and Ryan were kind of similar in our setup wise, we just did not know much. And Dakotah, he just knows what he's talking about. It's super impressive when he's talking with the mechanics and they're actually discussing stuff and me and Ryan are kind of just looking at you. It's kind of like being in maths class in school, like physics, and I'm just like, what is going on here? Talking about crazy stuff and I'm just like, shim stacks and all. I have no idea what this means. I'm so lost. But it was cool to learn. It's like, you're hearing what Dakotah is saying. It helps me for sure, cause I can actually like feed off him and he can see. So yeah, it was pretty cool to see a bit of a eye-opener that I need to go open it up a book about Fox 40s and learn, learn how they work. |
Dakotah Norton and Ronan Dunne shared the podium at Snowshoe in 2023.
On His New Teammates Dakotah Norton and Ryan Pinkerton
| I'm always one of the first riders to drop in for practice, but I think Dakotah is the same as me. He's one of the riders I always see up top when I'm there. So I think that would be pretty handy. I usually go for quantity on practice day. I'll usually try to go for as many runs as possible. So it will be pretty sick to feed off each other. I think it there'd be a good teammate rivalry there as well. I think that's going to be a pretty positive thing as well. So Ryan is riding faster, Dakotah is riding faster. You know, like, "okay, I got to go." I think it's going to be sick that way for sure. Usually what they say in motocross is your teammates are your number one competition, in a good way. I think it'll be good to feed off each other. Obviously, with line choice as well, we'll help each other out, like say stuff that we're not particularly going to say to other riders because they're not our teammates. Getting results for the team is probably one of the most important things as well. I think we should be sick. I ride with a whole group of different people usually at the World Cups, but mainly the Atherton boys Andi Kolb, Charlie Hatton. I usually give away all my secrets to them, to be honest, but they do the same for me. So, I mean, it'll just be doing it for Dak and Pinky now. |
Ronan Dunne after his career-best result of second at this year's Snowshoe World Cup.
On Getting Fired Up For Race Day
| I just take an insane amount of caffeine. Honestly, by 10 o'clock in the morning, I'm just so wired. I don't really get fatigued until I'd say about four o'clock the next morning. It's probably not good for the whole heart, but it definitely helps with racing. It's only during the race season. It's quite easy to get your hand on free Red Bulls. I know a lot of Red Bull riders. I've been caught many times sneaking into the Syndicate pits and leaving with crates. It's quite handy to get your hand on Red Bull. It's only for eight races so the heart can take it for now. Usually I just get like super fired up. Like I'm really, really hyped up getting into the start gate. I think maybe that's actually my downfall why I crash a bit because I'm just so fired up. I'm like, oh my God, let's get this done. Let's just tuck the front. So maybe we might do better if we tone it down a bit, but we'll have to see, maybe try that for one race. But yeah, I try to just hype myself up as much as possible and really try to gaslight myself into saying that if I don't win this race, the world's going to end. Really try. But I think that could be a bit of my downfall because I just get too hyped. We do the exact same warmup every race so it's pretty nice to follow that routine and know exactly what to do, but it's still just crazy nervous. And when you're getting closer and closer to the start line, like I remember beforehand, I'd always be like, "I wish my start was like 10 minutes later, so I wouldn't have to go now." But now I'm kind of like, "okay, get me to that start! I want to be there." It is pretty insane pressure. But it's what makes it so good, I think. I think I remember Snowshoe because there's so many people at the top and I was like, "okay I want them to make as much noise as possible so I'm not thinking about other things." If there's other noise outside, it might drown out the "oh often I crash, I'm going to get a puncture" and all these things. So I was trying to hype the crowd up and they're pretty sick crowds, so it definitely helps a bit. Most of the European races and all it's super quiet at the top and like, it's definitely pretty tense and every rider is dead quiet and their mechanics are dead quiet. I'm like, yeah, I need to put my earphones back in for a little bit longer. |
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Same here man, same here. Can't wait to see him race this season, it's going to be a wild one!
YEW DOWN'T KNOW ME SON
Keep annihilating corners and pulling up where nobody else will lad
But ya, ever watched one of his interviews? He is Mr. Stoke.