A group of county riders in action on the roads of Donegal last week (Photo: Stevie McKenna)
Brian Canty
Scanning the final general classification results from the An Post Rás, you’d be forgiven for concluding that the days of county riders competing in Ireland’s most prestigious race were nearing an end.
Over 170 riders started the race but just 145 made it to the finish, with the county riders largely – though not exclusively - propping up the bottom half of the results sheet; losing anything from one to four hours by the end.
When the race ends, as it did in Skerries yesterday, the question often arises as to whether it is now simply out of reach for all but very few county riders.
But Rás route director and former stage winner Stephen O’Sullivan refutes such a suggestion.
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“If you train enough and you’re fit you’ll be able to get around,” he says, a veteran himself of 19 editions of the race.
“Guys that don’t train and think they’ll get around it (won’t finish); you have to train. I know people are saying the race is too hard but Eugene Moriarty proved yesterday with seventh on the stage that it can be done; and Robin Kelly (who was in the day’s breakaway).”
“You don’t want to be riding an easy race. You want to ride a race and be deserving of it at a high level. Some of the guys who’ve ridden it have gone on to be stars of world cycling.”
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“Some Irish riders don’t prepare properly and think they can get around. You have to commit, but it’s not beyond the abilities of domestic guys.”
O’Sullivan, who rode last week for the Meath East-Spin 11 team, cited the Mayo team as a case in point, four of whom were rookies this year.
“You have to take your hat off to them; they’d prepared themselves exceptionally well. This was the first year four of them have raced the Rás, and all five finished. They proved you can go from riding bikes for pleasure to riding the Rás if you train hard enough.”
Though the race was at times littered with crashes, O’Sullivan - who was forced to abandon himself following a spill - said the feedback was very positive. Crashes are just part of the game, he insists.
“Most of the crashes happened at the start of the week. There’s a lot of domestic guys new to the sport and the thing is with those guys, there’s no fear factor; they haven’t fallen before. They’re fit enough and strong enough to get up into positions but diving through gaps that don’t exist (causes crashes). Even some of the younger guys take chances and the older guys who work full-time jobs can be overly anxious too because they know if they crash and break a collar bone, God forbid, that they’re out of work."
Though their riders suffered the worst of the injuries, with Dan Craven and Richard Tanguy forced to abandon, O’Sullivan said the British teams were “delighted” with the race.
“I was speaking to John Herety (manager of Rapha Condor Sharp) and he was delighted with it. He brought over a young team and with the weather and everything he said it was the best race and the best preparation he could get for his riders. So they were happy and the other Brits were delighted; they came back again having been here last year.”
Former stage winner and current route planner, Stephen O’Sullivan says “you have to commit”
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