We look back at Ciaran Power's epic ride in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Above, riding in the colours of Pezula towards the end of his career.
Waterford man Ciaran Power is Ireland's highest ever finisher in the Olympic road race, with 13th in Athens in 2004.
And he believed he could have finished higher had he been racing a clean peloton.
In the latest instalment of our throwback ‘Thursday Thursday’ articles, Power reflects on that day 11 years ago, while team manager Martin O'Loughlin also recalls his memories of that race.
The result barely registered a murmur inside or outside the Irish camp and why should it?
Can anyone name the last three winners of the Olympic road race, let alone all of those on the podium?
But Ciaran Power’s 13th in the road race in Athens has appreciated dramatically as the years have passed.
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Part of that is because the secrets to many wins in cycling back then have been revealed, with the winners later turning out to be nothing more than cheating fraudsters.
Power, along with teammate Mark Scanlon, were the only two Irishmen in the race; 224 kilometres long and lasting a whopping five hours and 41 minutes.
Perhaps just as staggering is that only 74 of the 200 or so who started actually finished.
Those who did, went a shade under 40 kilometres an hour for an average speed.
Ciarán Power during a training ride prior to the 2004 Olympic road race in Athens. The ex-professional was part of a two-man Irish team alongside Mark Scanlon.
Power knew he had a chance of a good result coming into it because he was well rested, unlike Sligo man Scanlon who had barely warmed down from finishing his first Tour de France with Ag2r less than a week earlier.
The big Waterford man, not a specialist at climbing or sprinting, arrived for the Olympics early, following a totally different build-up to Scanlon.
While the latter was flogging his guts out in the world’s toughest race, Power was acclimatizing to the sticky conditions.
He was also training specifically for the climbs on the 13.2 kilometre course he would crest an inhumane 17 times.
Martin O’Loughlin was the team manager at the time and goes back a long way with Power.
The two grew up racing with well-known clubs in Munster; Power in the Comeragh CC colours while O’Loughlin was a warm-up away in Carrick on Suir.
“I knew Ciarán had it in him to do a great ride at the Games,” reflected O’Loughlin.
“He was getting faster every day, getting stronger all the time as the race approached.
"We would go out and do moto-pacing sessions and at the end of an interval we’d get him to sprint and he was passing me out every time.
“On the descents he wanted to keep the effort up so we’d often hit 45 or more miles an hour. That’s scary.”
Power was in the form of his life prior to Athens and team manager Martin O'Loughlin recalled him doing close to 50 miles an hour behind the scooter during their moto-pacing sessions.
When it finally arrived for Power, the road race in Athens was a frantic affair from the drop of the flag.
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Magnus Backstedt of Sweden, that year’s winner of Paris-Roubaix, was the first rider to get some real daylight but by himself up front.
Even with almost four minutes at one stage - it was a suicide mission.
Germany, with a team that included the likes of Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloden and Jens Voigt had reason to be optimistic and flung men up the road as the race reached the halfway point – and the mercury tipped 36 degrees.
With 100 kilometres to go, big man Backstedt was caught and called it a day.
A volley of attacks followed but one plucky Venezuelan called Unai Etxebarria went clear, and took Italian Christian Moretti with him.
This forced the other strong nations like Germany, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia to chase and when four more went across to the leaders – including Power - things looked very good for the Irish camp.
The other three were Martin Elmiger (Switzerland), Robbie McEwen (Australia) and Ryan Cox (South Africa).
The sextet worked like savages and with four laps to go managed to get the gap up to over a minute, with Power riding strongly and shirking no turns.
Power rode professionally from 2000 for a number of years, riding the Giro d'Italia in 2002 and getting inside the top 10 on two stages. He's also a two-time winner of the Rás.
Behind, the wheels had come off for Scanlon and the accumulated fatigue of the hard season caught up with him. He would abandon, with two laps to go, like many others.
But things were going awry for Power too when the break’s lead was whittled back as the kilometres ticked down and with just two to go he was back in the bunch and clinging on for dear life.
Then, the eventual gold medal winner made his move.
After spending most of the race in the peloton, protected by his strong Italian team, Paulo Bettini broke away with 30km remaining and was followed only by Sergio Paulinho of Portugal.
They opened a 40-second gap by the final lap and while Axel Merckx (Belgium) made a late effort to reel them in, the Italian took gold with room to spare.
Paulinho snatched the silver and Merckx took a fantastic bronze.
The bunch - albeit just 33 riders - containing Power, were a handful of seconds behind.
And despite spending a good chunk of time out front, a rocking Irishman still had something left in his legs to lunge for the line and notch what would arguably be, the ride of his life.
Power said while that was one of the highlights of his career, he couldn’t help but think what might have been, had he not raced men prepared in the lab and not on the road, like himself.
“How many guys were on drugs in 2004 and finished ahead of me?" he suggested.
"I finished 13th, riding as good as I could. But how close would I have been to an Olympic medal if it was an equal field?
“And then you think if you’re getting an Olympic medal, what money you’d earn from that in a small place like Ireland.
"So anyone whose taken drugs took money off me really so I wouldn’t have sympathy for what happened any of them.”
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