Marc Potts sprints into Ballina on stage 5 of the An Post Rás at the head of the chase group; one of several times on the eight-day Irish show piece he was up the road, taking 16th on that stage (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
By Brian Canty
It was a week to remember at the An Post Rás for 23 year-old Irishman Marc Potts who was one of the best county riders overall and took a strong top 10 on the penultimate stage.
The North Down Graham Powerhouse Sport man was just over 20 minutes down overall in 26th position and was third best county rider at 10’42”.
He was satisfied with his lot, having progressed very well in recent seasons.
“I had a pretty decent week, though it didn’t really go to plan,” he said at the finish.
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“I kind of wanted a county rider prize. I was 10th yesterday and you’d normally get it for that but obviously there’s a lot of strong county men so I can’t be too sad about it.
Potts, second from right, in the escape on stage 3 from Tipperary to Bearna; they would be overhauled, paving the way for a bunch sprint won by Matteo Malucelli of Team IDEA 2010 ASD (Photo: Ger Cusack)
“I did this race two years ago but that was my first year taking the sport seriously and I just about got around.
"So it’s nice to actually get off the front as opposed to sitting in the bunch.
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“I said I’d be happy to get a top 10 but then when you get racing you start to think you can do more.”
Potts was in the 12-man break on Sunday, one of several dangerous moves he managed to get into this week.
“That’s what I was going for,” he said. “I knew my best chance of a result was if I could get in a break.
The men from Down North Graham Powerhouse Sport, left to right: Potts, Chris Reilly, David Hamilton, David Watson and Peter Hawkins (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“Every year there’s at least one that goes to the line and I knew I could win from those (situations).
“If you don’t try you won’t get anything out of it,” he continued.
“But I was willing to try and I really gave it everything.
“I’m happy; I finished University last May and committed to cycling all winter.
“That’s all I’ve done and it’s made a massive difference to my ability and hopefully I can build on that.”
Potts made the escape on the final stage, above. He is last man in the move in this photo, just about visible (Photo: David McVeigh - The Belgian Project)
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