Conor Hennebry enjoyed an incredible season last year; topping the rankings and national series as well as taking two stage race wins among his 12 victories. He gets underway in Kerry on Sunday (Photo: Caroline Kerley)
Ireland’s top A1 rider last season and the winner of Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, Conor Hennebry, has said he's been forced into a rethink about the season ahead following the cancellation of Rás Tailteann.
It’s a sentiment that many riders will express in coming weeks; the eight-day stage race having been the centre of the sport for many, with every other event orbiting around it.
“It's a big disappointment,” Hennebry said of the UCI-ranked Rás being cancelled, though an alternative stage race has been mooted for the coming months.
“I was going to aim at having a good Rás this year. But obviously I'm going to have to sit down and reevaluate the goals.
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“(I will) probably have a look at Rás Mumhan again, the National Series and try and have a better National Road Race Championships than I did last year.
"I was disappointed with myself and my performance last year,” he explained of the championships. “Hopefully if I can improve on a couple of those I should have an okay year."
Taking one of twelve wins last year; at the Cycleways Cup in Co Meath (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Hennebry’s prolific run began early last year and it continued deep into September. He won Rás Ceatharlach and the Red Hand Trophy at the end of the campaign on the same weekend.
That double victory capped a season made up of a series of wins most riders could only dream about over the course of their full cycling careers.
Not only did he win Rás Mumhan and the Bogman Two Day, he also took a stage win in each of those races.
He also won Rás Naomh Finian, John Drumm Cup, Donamon GP, Meath GP, Collins Christle and Rás Cill Mocheallog.
Those successes meant he topped both the Cycling Ireland A1 rankings at season end as well as the men’s National Road Series.
And with the first races of 2019 down for decision this weekend, Hennebry gets his season underway on Sunday.
On international duty with the Irish team in France three years ago.
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“It's hard to know what the form is like because we've no previous races done. But I'm looking forward to starting,” said the Waterford man who combines working with his racing.
“I was very happy with 2018. I had a good few nice wins which was good for the morale. And hopefully 2019 will be something similar.
“If we can pull off a few nice wins it will be all the better. But I'm just looking forward to getting going and seeing how the team gels.
“I'm going to Tralee on Sunday where I’m starting off with the Lacey Cup. I always try to get down to (that one) to start off.
“It's not exactly an easy race; it's a good hard race to start with. It's a nice circuit and I always like racing down there.
“All my training has been done at home. Because I'm working full time, it's not easy to get time off.
“I know some people are flexible with their working hours but I usually work nine until six."
At the official launch of the An Post-Chainreaction team two years ago, left to right: Matt Teggart, Sean McKenna, Sean Kelly, Damien Shaw and Conor Hennebry.
He continued: “So most of my training is done either commuting to work or commuting home and then on the weekend. But it's all based at home at the moment."
Last year Hennebry said he didn’t get too caught up on aiming to top the rider rankings. But when is very strong run put him on top mid season he became more aware it could be something to target.
Goals formed during 2018 season
“It was about halfway through the season that I realised I was top of the rankings,” he said.
“And it was just towards the end of the season that I started to make it a goal to try finish at the top.
“I know you don't get anything for it but it was just a nice achievement for myself to finish on top. Hopefully if I have a good year again I can try an aim to defend it."
However, while he made it look easy at times last year, he said getting results over a long period was very challenging.
“It was tough enough because there'd be races you'd go into and you just don't have the motivation and you don't want to.
“You just have to try and force the performance out in order to get some kind of points even when you're not going well.
“(It) is not easy when there's about 50 or 60 riders trying to get a top ten as well, you know.”
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