Lavery on the front at last year’s U23 World Championships in Copenhagen
Fresh from a string of victories at home as well as his first UK win, NODE4 Giordana Irish rider Philip Lavery looks to be in the shape of his life. However, the Dubliner says he’s not getting carried away. He believes he still needs to train and race hard to bring on the form and bag the big wins he’s hoping for.
A few hours after his victory in last weekend’s Noel and Kieran Hammond Memorial in Co Wicklow and 21-year-old Philip Lavery is full of chat.
He rattles through the race and how it went. And even though he is a professional rider he says he was very happy to win on home roads.
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“The guys I was with, some of them are working a job but I would definitely respect them. They are capable of beating you, especially in a one-on-one situation.”
“You look at, say, Greg Swinand who was in the break. He’s a very strong rider and he works and he has kids. If he gets out for three hours in a day he probably has to sacrifice something to be able to do that. If I go out for three hours I’m worried I didn’t do enough that day.”
“So being full time, I have to take on that kind of a race, take responsibility and obviously Connor (McConvey of An Post-Sean Kelly, also in the break last Sunday) would be the same.”
Lavery says while winning races in Ireland can never be the aim of a rider competing at professional and international level; he’s clear what his recent good run – five wins in Ireland and one in Britain - has done for him.
“This whole year has been about getting myself confident again and winning. Last year (when riding with An Post-Sean Kelly) I would go to the smaller races and not be focussed on winning. But now I’m determined to build up the confidence. And it’s about not being afraid to lose as well; to either a big rider or a county rider. I like to win races. It’s what I like the best about cycling.”
Having ridden the Tour du Loir et Cher E Provost stage race in France last month, he crashed on the first day and fractured and bruised his ribs. A bottle got caught in his wheel and he fell awkwardly just as he was about to stop.
However, while the injury is uncomfortable when he sleeps and coughs or sneezes, he says it is not problematic on the bike. He doesn’t believe it will hold him back in the weeks and months ahead.
Having finished second to Chris Newton in the Lincoln GP two years ago when still a teenager, Lavery had a difficult year last year; with illness wiping out his early season. The comeback road was a long one and not particularly fruitful. But a very aggressive ride in the National Championships followed by some signs of real improvement on the Continent in August suggested he was slowly clawing it back.
In the U23 World Championships in Copenhagen in September his full form returned, with a very strong ride that saw him on the attack a number of times. It was unfortunate he had run out of races to ride, but he had at least put the lie to anybody who had written him off.
Having departed the An Post-Sean Kelly outfit in favour of UK-based NODE4-Girodana, he has spent much of this season at home in between racing in Britain and France. He believes it’s a move that his given him more structure. He also sounds as if the hands-on involvement of Malcolm Elliott in his new team is a key relationship he can benefit from.
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“I think myself that I have the trust from Malcolm and the team to be able to read a race and a call a race out on the road.”
Having lost around 5kgs since last season, he says he is definitely in better condition now than at any point in his career.
But he is realistic about turning his form so far this year into wins on a bigger stage. He says he needs some luck in the bigger, international, races but also feels the change of team was a wise one.
“I feel I’m now not just a workhorse; that I’m there to do a job and getting paid for it. And I really do well under that kind of pressure.”
He also seems very comfortable with being viewed in the team as one of the riders who can win.
“I don’t have as much power as some other guys; but I feel I can get the wins.”
He has tried too to tweak his mental approach; to stop being hard on himself if he doesn’t do a ride in a race. And he feels he is more relaxed now and as a result less afraid to lose.
“You line up in a race and there’s 100 to 150 guys, maybe more. Only one of them is going to win. You have to accept that. I definitely feel I am going very well. But I am not under any illusions. I need more racing to be at that really good peak; I’m a bit off that potential still. But I’m putting that responsibility on myself to bring that on and achieve those results.”
He has decided to forego a ride in the one-day Tour of the Reservoir – a British Premier Calendar race in Northumberland this weekend - in favour of riding the Tour of Ulster. He believes he needs the three consecutive days of hard riding.
The following weekend is the Lincoln GP; perhaps the scene of his best ever result two years ago.
“I really want to do a good ride in that. I love that race. Last year it just didn’t go well. I went and pulled out after a few laps. This year I would love to go back and do a top result, even win it.”
“The British scene though is really strong at the moment. The Endura boys have done very well racing abroad. They have that winning habit, it’s put pressure on the rest of us. We’ll see what happens.”
And the An Post Ras?
“The first couple of stages will be very hard. People will know that I am strong and that the team is strong. But we maybe won’t be looked to as much as some of the other teams. But then there are other riders in the team apart from me, obviously. You look at Marcin (Bialoblocki) and he is just really strong. He won that stage into Tramore last year which everyone said was savage. But all of the riders we have are very, very good.”
“I would maybe be a little worried about Mamore Gap. For me, a stage like that can go one of two ways; I can either do really well and be really strong or I can go out the back. And we have all seen riders who are really strong and they’ve never won a stage. But yeah, I’m optimistic for myself. I don’t see why not.”
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