Jack Wilson, centre, will not be part of the An Post ChainReaction team for 2017. The 23-year old has walked away from the sport and says he is a lot more “stable” in his head now. Here, he is pictured celebrating his U23 national road race championships win from 2013, flanked by Cormac Clarke and Conor Dunne.
By Brian Canty
Jack Wilson will not be riding for An Post Chain Reaction next year as he has quit the sport indefinitely.
The former Irish U23 road race champion has not competed since the National Road Championships in June.
Having turned 23 years old in August, Wilson felt the sport was no longer for him. He said he felt he was not enjoying it he also felt he was going “backwards”.
“’Real life is different but my head and health are a lot more stable now,” he said. “So I definitely think I called it right.”
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The just finished season was by no means a bad one for Wilson, and as well as contesting the sprint that decided the opening stage of the An Post Rás in May he was 18th in the Rutland-Melton International Classic (1.2) in April, a race won by Irish elite international Conor Dunne.
He has also amassed plenty of experience racing in the green of Ireland in the Nations Cup, rode the World Road Championships as a junior and competed in a huge number of pro races during his five years at An Post-Chainreaction.
Among his best results were 4th overall at the Kreiz Breizh Elites in France two years ago, 2nd on a stage of the same race and 5th in the national championships in 2014 in Multyfarnham.
The same year he raced the World Championships in Spain and the European Championships in Switzerland where he finished a fine 17th.
In the 2014 nationals, he was part of the An Post Chain Reaction team men who took home the team prize as Ryan Mullen claimed the honours from Sean Downey in second, with Wilson fifth after making the winning escape.
This year, in rain-soaked Kilcullen Wilson was again to the fore in the chase group that came agonisingly close to bridging across to the winning breakaway.
But he faded in the finish under some strong driving by the aforementioned Mullen. He was U23 national road champion in 2013.
We'll have a longer interview with Wilson later in the week.
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