Cian Delaney was clearly in agony on the roadside after his Rás crash. And the medical diagnosis shows why; eight broken ribs counting as just one of his injuries after a bad smash on stage 4 (Photos by Bryan Keane - Inpho)
Having been in fantastic form since the start of the season, Cian Delaney went into the Rás tipped to do a strong ride.
However, while he thought he had eight days to try and get up the road, things haven’t worked out that way.
Shortly after the stage of Wednesday’s stage 4 – some 153km from Listowel to Glengarriff – Delaney was receiving medical treatment by the roadside.
There would be no heroic chase back on; a trip by ambulance to hospital ending his race after a crash.
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He suffered some very nasty injuries including eight broken ribs. He also sustained a punctured lung and was found to have blood in his lung.
So as the other riders continued their lap around Ireland, Delaney was in hospital in Tralee; and in a great deal of pain.
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Photographer Bryan Keane took up position on the river bank about 13km outside Listowel to get images of the riders going over a narrow bridge, top. Instead he ended up shooting the riders as they crashed on the bridge, middle. And while most of the fallers quickly got back n their bikes, Cian Delaney was in a lot of pain.
The Stamullen Road Club man had been riding the race with the Jons-Scme-Glen Dimplex team.
While he would have been up against it in the Rás against some top foreign teams, he had been going very well this year.
The race would have brought on his form even further for the remainder of the season. That was an important factor as Delaney really wanted to win a race this year as a tribute to Gay Howard.
Gaybo, a stalwart of Delaney’s Stamullen club, was tragically killed in a farming accident earlier this year.
A former stage winner on the Rás, he had always enjoyed travelling on the race and was synonymous with it.
Delaney was clearly very disappointed to see his race, indeed his season, end prematurely with unfinished business.
He had been one of the men of the season so far; a constant in the breakaways in many tough race in recent months.
“The crash was after about 15km,” he explained of his Rás Tailteann season-ending spill.
“We were going over a bridge and the road narrowed. I just heard lads jamming on the brakes and piling up. And I went straight into it.
“I landed on a bike and lads landed on me. So something went through my ribs. I couldn’t breathe at first so I knew it was bad.
“I suppose it could’ve been a lot worse. I just wanted a win for Gaybo this year. But maybe someone else from the club might get one.”
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