Class will out: Killarney's Matt Slattery, riding this week in the sky blue of www.visitnenagh.ie , was one of just three county riders to survive inthe yellow jersey group today (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Having been kept out of the 2013 An Post Rás because of injury, former international Brian Ahern has been reviewing for us the performances of the real 'Men of the Rás'; the county riders. At the end of a long, winding and very lumpy road today through Wicklow, there remained just three county men in the yellow jersey group. In this dispatch Brian salutes Matt Slattery, Damian Shaw and Thomas Martin.
Roger Aiken was the hero of the day today once again on the road to Naas on the penultimate stage of this Rás. I knew he was going to attack and give it a real go but did I really expect him to be yellow jersey on the road with 30kms remaining? Probably not.
Advertisement
I thought the organised chase from the pros would not allow him to get such a big gap. Then again, maybe there wasn’t much the pros could do about it. He’s a different class; end of story. Will he try again tomorrow? Don’t be ridiculous, of course he will.
Luckily, today was a good “drying day” in Dublin and my Roger Aiken pyjamas are freshly washed, dried and ironed. They will be worn again tonight.
The yellow jersey group came in 23” behind Aiken and contained 32 riders, three of whom were county riders. Super performance by these three guys on such a tough stage, so late in the week.
Thomas Martin of the Eurocycles team put in an excellent performance to finish in 27th position on the stage. Today’s route covered many of the same roads used for the Shay Elliot Memorial two weeks ago in which Martin finished and excellent 2nd. He drew great confidence from that performance and would have been one of the few looking forward to today.
Thomas Martin of Eurocycles was 2nd in the Shay Elliott Memorial to his team mate Conor Murphy two weeks ago. Martin put in a great ride in the hills of Wicklow today and appears to be tapping into his obvious potential.
Matt Slattery of visitnenagh.ie once again displayed his climbing prowess. He would have been spurred on in the knowledge that the wider Slattery clan had made the trip up from Killarney to support him. They will be very proud to have seen Matt finish so well on such a tough day.
Damian Shaw of Aquablue was the 3rd county rider to make it into today’s select group. This wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anybody on the domestic scene. He proved today that in spite of his stocky physique, he can climb exceptionally well.
The county rider prize overall looks to be all but settled. Aiken leads Shaw by 3’44” and Thomas Martin is at 4’56”.
Then there is a gap back to Aaron O’Donoghue in 4th place who is 16’41” down on Aiken. That’s not bad for a guy who started A3 racing at the start of the 2012 season. He’s yet another guy who should be used as an example to future county rider hopefuls.
In the category 2 competition Cathal Moynihan of the Waterford Comeragh team was unlucky to be told that he was upgraded to A1 status during the week.
That’s very unfortunate timing for him and by default John Dempsey Tipperary Carrick Iverk Produce takes over that mantle. Dempsey won the Rás Mumhan in 2005 and spent a period riding in France and Belgium so it’s no surprise that he wins this particular contest, albeit at the expense of the very unlucky Moynihan.
Related News
He holds a 4’06” lead over Ciaran Clarke of the Mayo Castlebar Fedaia Bikes. Ciaran’s brother Paddy was the victim of an extremely harsh disqualification on stage 5.
The broom wagon came in today at 23’02” with four riders, three of whom were county riders. The breakaway hero of stage 6 John Lynch of UCD obviously paid for his efforts and arrived to the finish line exhausted.
Diarmuid Collins of the Dublin Dundrum Town Centre was also with the broom and was greeted at the finish line today by his wife Yvonne. Collins arranged all of the logistics for this year’s Rás team and puts in a massive amount of work behind the scenes for the Dundrum Town Centre Club.
Last year he watched the Rás finish in Skerries and stood in the crowd watching guys collect their finisher medals. There and then he decided that was that; he was riding the Rás!
On a personal level, I will be delighted to see him cross the finish line tomorrow. He also bakes a mean carrot cake.
Colm Quinn of the Louth Prague Charter team was the 3rd county rider with the broom. He will have sacrificed himself for his two Louth teammates Aiken and Bryan McCrystal during the week, fetching bottles and where possible providing shelter. I hope he realises that on another team he could probably be considered the superstar.
The final stage of the Rás is another tough one, not to be underestimated. It’s not like the Tour de France where the riders sip champagne and take photographs. There are three riders at the top of the GC on the same time so you can rest assured that they will all be having a go.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately that’s bad news for the county riders as the stage is likely to be very aggressive right from the gun.
The riders will crest the Blackhills in Skerries three times; the first ascent coming after 121kms. Riders who are struggling should look on that as their finish line. Once they get that far they will be boosted by the roars of the crowd and the fantastic stage end party hosted by the Skerries stage end organisers.
Do not underestimate how tough the Blackhills are. In 2012 I finished with the leaders in 27th position. However I had been distanced twice and only regained contact on both occasions because a motorbike track World Champion called Martyn Irvine was dropped before me and single-handedly towed a group of about 20 riders back to the front group.
At the start of tomorrow’s stage the riders’ legs will feel hollow. It may take them about 40 minutes of racing before they start to feel relatively comfortable sitting in the peloton.
I expect at front group of about 60 riders tomorrow. Expect Aiken and McCrystal to be there and if Mícheal Fitzgerald of Visit Nenagh makes the cut then expect him to challenge; not just for the county rider prize but for the stage win.
However, tomorrow I would like to see some new face on the podium in Skerries collecting the Blue Jersey. Plenty are capable but they will need to be on top of their game, maintaining a position towards the front of the bunch as they approach the Blackhills for the first time.
Best of luck to all of the riders tomorrow. It’s a wonderful feeling to arrive at the finish and will be a moment you will cherish forever.
Cheers
Brian
Damian Shaw of Aquablue (leading) on the road to Nenagh earlier in the week; he put in a great ride to come home on the yellow jersey group today (Photo: Adrian O'Connor - www.blackumbrellaphotography.com )
Topics
