The Tour of New Caledonia is a bike race held in the south Pacific, or in the words of ex-pro Declan Lonergan from Waterford “in the middle of nowhere”. Here, the Waterford man shares his recollections of the one and only time he rode it in the early 90's alongside Irish teammate Robert Power. Grab the popcorn for this one...
By Brian Canty
Scanning the Irish cycling archives recently we came across a rather stunning shot of a peloton led by two Irishmen emerging from coconut palm trees on some sun-spoilt island far from their respective homes in Waterford.
Though the riders in question, Robert Power and Declan Lonergan, are blessed to be from the sunny south-east, the latter makes no apologies for crediting the tiny speck that is Lifou in the south-Pacific to be the most beautiful place he has ever visited.
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A quarter of a century has passed since ex-pro Lonergan represented Ireland in what was then called the Tour of New Caledonia, though his memories are still very vivid.
“It was an Irish team but there were only two riders; myself and Robert.
“It was a very unique race, two weeks long so longer than the Rás.
“I had ridden the Milk Race a couple of years prior and that was a 14-day race with a rest day but the Tour of New Caledonia was two weeks without a rest,” he recalled.
“There was a fairly small bunch as well of maybe 70 riders, so when you’ve a small group racing for two weeks it’s a completely different ball-game.
“I recall it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to in my life.
“We were invited there. I’m not sure who was the national director but we had just finished the Nissan Classic a few days before and we were excited to get there.
“Well, we were until we got there and heard it was a two-week race!”
Declan Lonergan (WCC) is a former Rás winner and Olympian. His talent took him all over the world - though he always had a huge fondness for racing at home in Ireland. Amongst the escape in this picture are Ray Clarke, Bobby Power, Fionán O'Sullivan and Anthony O'Gorman.
Power and Lonergan were two of the best riders in Ireland at the time and both rode for the country on several occasions.
And they rode well in the south pacific too.
“I think Robert won a stage and I got second another day but that was it.
“It was extremely mountainous and I crashed out of it very, very badly,” reflected Lonergan, a 1992 Olympian.
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The story of how he would leave the race is one he tells in superb detail.
“I got into a fight with a guy one day and we both crashed. I ended up in hospital but the next day the same guy spat in my face.
"And I’ll tell you this, it was one of the most insulting things you can do. He was a local rider and he wouldn’t ride.
“We were out the back on one of the hilly days and he was sitting on. We were all yelling at him but he wouldn’t do a turn.
“Then he got aggressive and came up and spat on me so I dragged him off the bike and we both had cuts and bruises and I ended up in hospital again.
“The next day we started the race at the bottom of a hors categorie climb.
“I had broken my coccyx from the crash the day before and I’d really hurt myself.
“I was just off the back but I could descend pretty well and I was catching the group up ahead.
“Then I hit a hairpin, I was going too fast and my right hand wasn’t working too well so I ended up going off the road and over the side of the mountain and I went down a ravine around 400 yards.
“That was it then. I had to be put in a stretcher and in the back of an ambulance and that was me done.”
Lonergan rode professionally in the US for a number of years but he was also a prolific winner at home, winning the 1994 Rás. He was a member of the Saab pro team in the US, the Lex Retail Group – Townsend Cycles (Great Britain) and he also rode for Jayco (Australia). He also won the points classification in the Rás in 1990, 1991 and 1994...as well as seven stages throughout his career.
He would leave Power on his own and though he was supposed to leave the island, because he spoke French and had a bit of charm the organisers put him up and allowed him stay.
And he made full use of those days he remained on the island.
“It was a wild experience,” he laughed. “Lifou is absolutely stunning, it is an absolute paradise.
“I remember riding along in jungle one day and suddenly it just opened up and we were going over a bridge. (see picture above)
“The whole field was in awe; we were under the trees and then we came out into this opening and jaws his the floor at the beauty.
“It was balls out through forest, then jaw-dropping beauty and it actually stopped the guys at the front and us and the guys at the back; we were free-wheeling for 10 seconds to take it all in.”
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