Action from the final stage into Skerries last year (Photo: Lorraine O’Sullivan-Inpho)
On the eve of the An Post Rás, we run our eye over the Irish riders we feel are most capable of making a mark on this year’s race if they perform to their potential. Based on our reading of the season to date, this is our best forecast at this time of the most likely Irish lads over the coming week. The profiles below are set out in no order of importance. Enjoy!
David McCann (RTS Racing Team)
Winner of the race overall in 2004, McCann has also claimed the points and climbers’ classification and has taken numerous stages. In last year’s race he was unlucky to crash in Kerry, a mishap that ended his GC chances. But he was to bounce back in great style on the final stage taking a solo win after he held off the bunch with his aggression and power.
Advertisement
Though a rider with nothing left to prove, he is currently third in Cycling Ireland’s Olympic qualification points scale (with three to qualify) and a good Ras would book his place to London. He was flying in the recent Tour of Korea when he crashed and ripped the top of his thumb, exposing and fracturing the bone and severing an artery.
To put it bluntly, he is capable of winning any of the eight stages and can also be right there in the GC shake up. The hangover from his Korea crash is the only question mark hanging over him on the eve of a race that he has done so well in throughout his career.
Philip Lavery (NODE4 Giordana)
He has gotten himself very much back to winning ways so far this season following his move to NODE4 Giordana during the winter, with a string of home wins and a UK victory. He took the Shay Elliott in really convincing style last week, a welcome boost after being forced out of the Tour of Ulster with illness the previous weekend.
Perhaps the only thing that might niggle at him is how well he has recovered from that illness facing into eight days of hard racing. A crash in France where he fractured ribs last month was an unwelcome distraction. But he has told us he doesn’t think that will hold him back and judging by his form last weekend it appears his bout of illness is also behind him.
He’s an old school attacking rider facing into a race that normally favours the brave. He won’t be afraid to get up the road early and he can also sprint; that’s an excellent combination in the Ras. This is one rider we very much fancy for a stage win. And if he were to infiltrate a couple of breakaways with his aggression it is not unreasonable to suggest that he may be up on GC with the race hits Donegal, where anything can happen. If it goes well, this week could be the makings of him.
Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport)
Like Lavery, this is a man for whom a change of team during the winter – to IG Sigma Sport – has proven a great tonic. He started the year very well with a string of wins on home roads, including the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow and a stage win in the ‘P&O Ferries Tour of the North’. A fortnight ago he took the bunch gallop for second in the British Premier Calendar Tour of the Reservoir. Any time we’ve interviewed him after his recent wins he’s expressed confidence that his form is improving. And he’s also told us the Ras is a massive goal for him this season and within that a stage win is the main objective.
Hawkins has spent a number of seasons learning his trade in Belgium and now having returned to race a little closer to home he has presented this year as an in-form, confident rider; one who has a lot of experience and knows his way around a hard race.
He can climb and he can also gallop. There’s every reason to think he will get into some breakaways and if they make it all the way he is very much likely to have the gas in the tank and the finishing kick to seal the deal. Verdict: definitely capable of a stage win, but like everyone else with that goal he just needs a bit of luck.
Sam Bennett (An Post-Sean Kelly)
This is a man who has already tasted Ras stage victory, into Clara three years ago as a fresh-faced 19-year-old. His early season this year was ruined by illness, forcing him into a frustrating period on the sidelines.
But in recent weeks he’s shown he’s well over that illness and has taken two podium places in races in Belgium. Bennett is best known as a sprinter, but he has the power and guts to get down and dirty when he needs to. He rode himself into a body bag for team mate Gediminas Bagdonas on the stage into Tramore last year; the general consensus being that his contribution was perhaps the difference between the yellow jersey staying on his An Post-Sean Kelly team mate’s shoulders or slipping away.
But therein lies his problem; will he be restricted by team duties again this year for what appears to be a stronger than ever Bagdonas? The opening stages are ripe for Bennett to get a stage win. He needs to get his nose in front by midweek within his own team as much as among the other strongmen in the race. He is capable of at least one stage win and maybe more. Now lying fourth in Cycling Ireland’s Olympic points qualification system, a really good Ras would get him to London. For his sake, you just hope he doesn’t spend the week sitting on the front (again) riding as part of the team effort to keep the title in Lithuania and to please a sponsor.
Ryan Sherlock (Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers)
The software consultant has taken a break from the day job to focus on racing this year and it appears to be paying off. He’s enjoyed great success, taking a number of really good wins that have propelled him into a massive lead in the Irish rider rankings for the season so far. He is a late convert to the road, having focussed on MTB until relatively recently. There is absolutely no doubt that he is a really strong rider who’s enjoying the form of his life.
One great feature for him is that he will be more anonymous in this race than he has been on home roads, where he has been heavily marked this season. Others in the Ras field are the professionals who’ve come in search of a GC win, so if he gets away he can afford to play the county rider card a little and maybe let others do the lion’s share of the driving.
We think he’s the kind of rider who will excel at longer and harder racing. But in the Ras his lack of international road racing experience may well count against him when he comes up against a top class field featuring some pro teams. But he has the legs to get into a breakaway and be in the mix in a finale. After that, anything is possible.
Sean Lacey (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes)
Lacey had his trademark very strong start to the year but has perhaps been a little quieter in recent times than one might have expected. Having said that, he’s focussed and meticulous in his preparation and will have all of his groundwork done going into the next week. He took in the four-day Essor Breton in Lorient, Brittany, a fortnight ago with his Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes team and re-acquainted himself with something of the style of racing he can expect over the next week.
It is perhaps a mark of how the Ras has progressed – for better or worse, depending on your view – and on the number of Irish riders now competing as professionals/semi-professionals that if the race was an “amateur” affair again, we’d be singling out Lacey for stage wins and a very probable tilt at the GC.
But amateur it is not, and like the rest of the domestic part-time riders, Lacey will have to be prepared for the challenge ahead when racing against the full timers/pros. He is definitely a very good contender for the county rider stage prizes and overall. But he is a very strong rider who is capable of a little better than that. Perhaps a couple of top tens on stages would be a good result for most who work full time. But this is the Ras and anything can happen.
Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles)
This is a class act and having watched him very closely over the past couple of seasons we can’t help but feel he would improve even further if he could secure a place on the An Post-Sean Kelly team or similar outfit. On his day he is the strongest domestically based rider. He’s an attacking rider who seems to instinctively know how to read a race.
He has enjoyed a really good series of wins on home roads so far this season, his most recent being a stage win and then GC victory on the Tour of Ulster. In that race he and team mate Conor Murphy overpowered the NODE4 Giordana boys on the final stage only for Armstrong to get clear with Ryan Sherlock and put nearly six minutes into the yellow jersey of James Moss.
Related News
However, his packing of the Shay Elliott last weekend wasn’t an image that inspired confidence and one hopes that that is not the start of any loss of form or illness for him. The reality is he was most likely coming to the end of a hard block of training and may have just overcooked it by tackling the Shay Elliott while also working nights.
We feel that of the home-based guys, Armstrong is the man most likely to take a stage win or at least come close to it. He told us a few weeks ago that he thinks he can do it if things go his way. He has also never ridden to the maximum of his potential in the Ras and we feel this may be the year.
Sean Downey (An Post-Sean Kelly)
Bubbling away very nicely this year thank you very much, and is capable of a very good Ras ride. Last year he was 11th on GC when riding for the Irish national team. Since then he has moved to the An Post-Sean Kelly team and seems to have made a seamless transition to that set-up. He has been really consistent in races, with the only hiccup a fractured elbow last month that does not now appear to be holding him back.
He perhaps lives in the shadow of Sam Bennett a little bit, simply because Bennett has a gallop. But Downey can face this week with a lot of confidence. He is a good climber and won’t fear any of the stages. On GC we feel he has the best prospects of any of the team apart from Bagdonas. Downey is exactly the kind of rider we could see stay in contact on GC as the race moves to Donegal and then benefit handsomely from the toughest stages. If Bagdonas doesn’t do a repeat of last year (Yikes – we are blaming poor Bagdonas on everything here, sorry!) and the Irish guys on the team get a bit of leeway, Downey is our dark horse for the GC; a man who we feel could get on the podium in Skerries.
Mark Dowling (DID Dunboyne)
Like Sean Lacey, if this were a Ras of yesteryear, this is one man who would have stage win favourite and GC contender written all over him. But apart from joining the Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes team as a guest rider for that French four-day a fortnight ago, Dowling has done his racing on home roads this year. He won a great stage on Ras Mumhan at Easter – where he held the yellow jersey before puncturing – but as a climber had a lacklustre Shay Elliott last week.
His challenge is this; can he get through the opening stages and into Donegal in sufficiently good shape to be able to pit his undoubted climbing ability against riders from bigger, international teams. The one factor counting against him is his lack of international racing. We don’t know how he’s going to go, simple as that. But the DID Dunboyne rider has bags of talent and the Donegal stages should be right up his alley. Like Sherlock, Armstrong, Lacey and Tim Barry – with the ability this rider has, a bit of luck might put him right in the mix for a big stage result.
Ronan McLaughlin (An Post-Sean Kelly)
The Donegal man is now a veteran of the An Post-Sean Kelly set up and has been with the squad longer than anyone else. He has established the ability to mix it in many of the Continental races the team features on its programme, most recently taking the KOH title in the Circuit de Wallonie in Belgium. The danger for McLaughlin this week is that he might fall into the role of dependable domestique should one of his team mates be in, or close to, yellow.
He is a strong rider who is willing to have a go, exactly the kind of characteristics that usually go a long way in the Ras. The An Post team will raise its game even further for the main home race of the year, backed by its title sponsor. And McLaughlin will be lifted even a bit further because of the dominance of his native Donegal on this year’s route.
This is a very good rider, but he’s lacking a big win and would dearly love that to come in the Ras in Donegal. Like any of his team mates, he certainly has the natural ability and the legs to pull it off. He’d be a very popular stage victor and we feel he maybe needs to grab any chances that come his way with absolute conviction and to start thinking a bit more selfishly. He’s won a couple of races this year on home soil so he is well able to put chances away, he just needs to do that on the big stage in the week ahead.
Felix English (Rapha Condor Sharp)
The big thing counting in English’s favour is that his Rapha Condor Sharp team is refocusing on development in the current year so there is no Dean Downing in the Ras line-up or a GC contender like the now retired Chris Newtown. This means English will get his own chance at different times in the week. He is a very strong and versatile rider who can time trial very well but also has a really good gallop. On paper it is perhaps the opening stages that will suit him best. If he looks after himself properly in those stages and gets a clear run at the line in a sprint for victory from either the bunch or a breakaway, we feel he has the speed on his day that could carry him to a stage win or very close to it. The hills of Donegal will not be to his liking, so if he is to make an impression it will probably need to be in the first half of the race. This is a rider we feel is going to develop very nicely in the next few years and he is perhaps a faster sprinter than many people think. He’s definitely capable of surprising a few people.
Stephen Halpin (Metaltek SCOTT)
The Metaltek SCOTT rider has perhaps been a bit quiet in recent weeks after opening the season with a couple of very strong wins. Those victories were his first in a long time, having seen the past couple of seasons ruined through illness and injury. Halpin is in his first year with his UK team and having been away from hard racing for so long, it is perhaps asking a lot of him to be in the mix on a race as tough as the Ras. However, he is a good sprinter who is also capable of getting into some key moves. We feel if he were to get into the shake-up in the finale on a couple of stages it could really herald his return to some proper form and could set him up nicely for the remainder of the season.
It is very important for him to emerge from this week illness and injury free and for it to bring on his form. Like Felix English, don’t be surprised if you see him elbow to elbow with some of the bigger guns sprinting for stage victory in the first half of the week. If he could take a result from this week his rehabilitation from his long lay off would be complete and his confidence would be shored up. This is a rider with unfulfilled potential and a good Ras would do him the world of good.
Conor McConvey (An Post-Sean Kelly)
He’s only ridden the Ras once – two years ago – but on that occasion he was fourth overall and won the U23 classification. Since then he’s left the An Post-Sean Kelly team for a period before rejoining towards the back end of last year. Like his team mate Sam Bennett, McConvey was sidelined for a prolonged period with illness at the start of the season. And having been away from quality racing for much of last year, his early season interruption is something he really could have done without.
He hasn’t set the world on fire since he came back, but we feel he is a very, very strong rider who potentially has a much bigger Ras in his legs that people might think. He’s a good climber and if things go well he could well be looking to strike when the race enters the business end of the week in Donegal.
But like the rest of his team mates, you just hope he gets at least some chances to let rip this week rather than being constricted too much by team duties. Undoubtedly he has not done much this year; not yet anyway. But we feel he is more than capable of pulling a ride out of the bag over the next week. He’s a big man with a big engine and he’s already excelled in the Ras. Keep an eye on this guy; he might just surprise a few people.
Martyn Irvine (RTS Racing Team)
Seeing how Irvine gets on this week is going to be very interesting indeed. One thing’s for certain, there is zero pressure on him. He went about his Olympic qualification programme with great determination and was rewarded at the end of it all with a thoroughly deserved place in the omnium in London. However, he has since ridden the Tour of Korea so has some quality road miles in his legs despite his track focus for much of the past year.
He took a great win last year on the penultimate stage, showing great strength and street smarts to pounce from a long breakaway and romp home for a memorable solo win. He’s a class act who, like his team mate McCann, is well capable of winning any one of a number of stages. While he raced on the road in Korea and has been training on the road in Mallorca in recent weeks it’s simply impossible to tell how eight long stages on the road are going to suit him following his recent long track focus.
But you don’t get to the Olympics for nothing and you don’t win Ras stages without a big engine too. So we think his class will out somewhere along the way in the next week. But where and how that might be is anyone’s guess.
Tim Barry (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes)
He has ridden the race on the national team previously and has been one of the very strongest men on the home front for many years now. Like his team mate Lacey, he has four hard stages from a French stage race in his legs from a fortnight ago and will be in the mix for the county rider stage prizes and GC shake up. If he were to get into a decisive break, those ambitions might be raised a little. Barry is a very experienced campaigner and having won some great races already this year, he has clearly prepared for the 2012 campaign as thoroughly as ever. But like all the county riders in the race, the question for him is how far he can stretch the form that has been built on the domestic racing scene. Verdict: he’ll definitely be in the county mix-up and anything after that would be a bonus, but not an earth shattering surprise.
Topics
