Conn McDunphy said he was delighted to have gotten the chance with EvoPro Racing at the end of this season but has expressed serious concerns about the small numbers of Irish riders making it into the European pro peloton.
"I categorically know that for many Irish riders; that if the platform was there, we’re good enough to be good professionals," he said of the lack of opportunities for Irish elite male road riders, offering some examples.
"Not everyone has to win the bike race; a sprinter won't win without his teammates getting on the front."
Last year's Irish elite TT champion, McDunphy, added "nobody else in any other country understands" how such significant investment can be made in amateur sports only played in Ireland yet a sport like cycling, in which Ireland has a significant track record, lags behind so badly. He believed it was "small country syndrome".
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McDunphy has made his comments in an interview with stickybottle just a week after Sean Kelly told us he was also surprised Ireland did not have more pro riders by now.
In the week before Kelly's interview, Rory Townsend of Continental team Canyon dhb SunGod told stickybottle he could simply not afford to continue racing unpaid. However, despite very strong results and performances, he had been unable to secure a place at a ProContinental team, where he would be paid a salary.
Furthermore, as so few Irish riders were securing proper, salaried, pro contracts the Irish Government is continuing to stall on funding the construction of a long-promised velodrome despite even provincial structures in Gaelic Games being so well funded.
For his part, McDunphy performed very strongly during the final months of the 2021 season with Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing. He said when he was going into his stint with the team, he believed he would be strong enough to at least hold his own.
"I knew I had the level to perform in those types of races, and I did. I nearly got the better of the chasing bunch while in the breakaway in Tour du Doubs for example.”
Morgan Fox and PJ Nolan started Evo Pro in 2019 and have been competing internationally since.
"They are putting their heart and soul into it and yet there seems to be little support from Ireland. The team was unlucky in that the year the team came in existence, the Rás was gone. And then in those three years the team has been around, there's been no Rás.
"The majority of the An Post's team's wins were in the Rás. And really with those wins; I think that's how Irish people, and sponsors, knew about the team."
McDunphy added the absence of Rás Tailteann from the calendar was also having an impact on Irish riders. When the race was running and had UCI status it was a showcase for the An Post team. But it was also an opportunity for other Irish riders looking to secure the results required to be noticed by pro teams and for domestic riders to get a glimpse at the level of bike racing on the Continent
While a stage win in Rás Tailteann, even when it had UCI status, did not guarantee a pro contract "a UCI win as a UCI win" and the Irish stage race was a showcase for talent. McDunphy added he could not understand why so few Irish riders had been able to secure places on UCI teams down the years, ‘the level and talent is there, the pathways are not’.
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"The week after the nationals there were only two riders in the top 10 with a confirmed UCI contract," he said, a reference to Ryan Mullen and Ben Healy.
In recent seasons, a trend of juniors being signed straight to WorldTour teams has gathered pace and McDunphy suggested that pattern was now absorbing many of the places that would normally be available in pro teams.
He added not everyone is an instant success, saying that was the nature of endurance sport. As a result, some riders out of the U23 category continued to race internationally in the hope of securing a contract. But there was only so long they "could live with no money or very little", as is the reality unless signed for a ProConti or WorldTour team.
McDunphy said the case of Townsend was further evidence there was "something systematically wrong" with the progression path for Irish riders. He pointed out Townsend had won races internationally and performed at a very high level consistently in other major events.
"I tweeted about this recently (so few Irish riders getting contracts) and it was just out of frustration about Irish riders doing the right things and just not getting the support needed." he said.
He added the founders of EvoPro had put together a fantastic project despite the absence of a showcase like Rás Tailteann and that more support from the Irish cycling community and sponsors was vital.
McDunphy urged any potential sponsors and other backers to get in touch with the team, saying it was a project that would be "delighted" to be reached out to and could show any promising sponsor the value and return they would get from it.
When pressed if he meant that lack of support could be attributed to Cycling Ireland, Sport Ireland, Irish companies, or high net worth people in Irish cycling, McDunphy said he was frustrated there were no entities in Ireland stepping up to back Irish cycling.
"EvoPro has one of the best, if not the best, race calendar of a Continental team in the world. And I think it's been brushed under the carpet a bit in Ireland," he said, adding he felt the media also overlooked the team and Irish cycling generally.
"It's Ireland's only professional cycling team and for a country that won the green jersey in the Tour last year… it's insanity we only have one UCI registered team in the country."
McDunphy added a Continental team like EvoPro was invaluable to Irish cycling because it could provide a steppingstone into the pro peloton; something ProConti of WorldTour teams could not provide.
"We should have a lot more Irish riders (in the pro peloton) because the level is there; Daire Feeley, Matthew Teggart, Mark Downey, Darragh O’Mahony…. Guys like this, they have the level to be professionals, but the platform has not been there.
“I don’t know the answer to this, but things need to be discussed and brought to public knowledge in order to find one”, he said.
McDunphy suffered serious head injuries in a bad racing incident in France just a week after winning the Irish TT title last year but said he felt this year had gone well as he had recovered.
"Personally, I didn't think I would be able to get back to the level I was at before my crash. But I was and more. I was very happy with my road racing form this year. In terms of time trialing, I haven't been quite able to get my body in the same position. So, I was probably a bit below my par this year. But I was very happy with how it all went."
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