One of the very best domestic riders for over a decade, Sean Lacey has finally won the county rider prize on a stage in the Rás; on the podium this afternoon in Lisdoonvarna (Photo: www.blackumbrella.ie)
By Brian Canty
Sean Lacey fulfilled something of a lifetime ambition today when he deservedly won the county rider prize for the very first time at the An Post Rás, on the road into Lisdoonvarna.
He said it wasn’t the day he expected to win the coveted prize, and he certainly had to work for it. But the Tralee man will be sleep soundly tonight and will tomorrow wear the jersey that distinguishes himself from all the others on the third stage from Lisdoonvarna to Caherciveen.
“It was a long tough day being away for so long but thankfully it worked out for myself and the team,” said the Aquablue man at the finish today.
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“I hadn’t planned on going away at all but there were attacks from the start and eight got away and I was looking at it saying; ‘I could go across to that’. And so I went for it. Two or three lads came with me.
“The thing about it was we got in there to the break and there was no hesitation; everyone just went through very honestly and the bunch just hesitated. We opened a gap of 30 seconds.
“It was hard the whole time, the most we ever got was a minute. The bunch seemed to hold us around that. But then seven more came across and three of my teammates were there, and that strengthened it a lot. From then on, more and more joined.”
Riding the now defunct, hopefully soon to be revived, professional Tour of Ireland with the national team.
Indeed the numbers in the move initially welled to 17 and when that was brought back to within 30 seconds of the bunch another group joined up making around 50 up front.
“I don’t know if you could even call it a break then,” said Lacey.
Incredibly all of his five man time with the exception of Keith Gater was there, and even he was active off the front of the bunch and went very close in a small move to joining the escape in its early incarnation.
Lacey said with four Aquablues up front, the fact that they were with professional riders did not hold them back.
“We just kept working and did what we always do,” he said of his squad, perhaps the most dominant on the home scene in recent years and never afraid to pull its weight.
“We weren’t trying to kill ourselves thinking of yellow or anything like that because we have to be realistic. We were just being smart; trying to keep the break going.
“It was always going to be hard because when people see four of a certain team they probably expected us to drill it. But we weren’t going to do that because that would have been a wrong move so we encouraged everyone to keep working and it worked out to a certain extent.”
With team mate Tim Barry just after Barry won Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in 2010; Lacey would win it the following year. Barry is now his manager and is directing Aquablue's operations from the team car in the An Post Rás this week (Photo: Pat Doherty)
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As the race passed the 120 kilometre mark, the head of the race saw a regrouping and though Lacey was not present in the two small moves that made their way off the front of what became the lead ‘bunch’ to take the top 10 on the stage, he knew he still had a good chance of taking the county prize.
“A good stage result was my priority then, and just to represent my team and myself as best I could,” he said of the regrouping after a lot of effort to pull clear and stay out front.
“I said ‘if the county rider prize came then so be it’. But when the group got so big it got very tactical. You need the right mix and if you don’t have that you’re wasting your time.
“Maybe around 20-30k to go a group of five clipped away and got around 30 seconds on us. Then there was a Baku rider 10 seconds off that and I went across to that. Then a few Madison Genesis guys came across and Bryan McCrystal and we had a group of 10 and it worked well.
“That split at the cat one climb (Doonagore); Baku and Austria were there. We worked hard and merged to the initial five so it was a successful day for the team.”
He said while his squad had done well today, it simply raced in the way it always tries to.
“We try to be aggressive and that’s the attitude we take here. Some days it will work, some days it won’t. But today it happened to work. But it’s not just us, lots of county men rode well.”
He mentioned several county men who were up the front for long periods of today from early on, including Ian Richardson from UCD and Mark Dowling and John Mason, both of DID Dunboyne.
On a personal note, Lacey said to get the county rider prize has been over a decade in the making, but well worth the wait.
“I’ve had a good few top 10s, there was always one more ahead of me so finally getting a jersey is always nice, I’m very happy.
“It’s a while coming, this must be my 12th or 13th Rás. I don’t want to count because it highlights how old I am,” he laughed.
“I’ve had good placings before but there’s always been good opposition too. Paidi O Brien beat me one year, Eugene Moriarty another year and Paul Griffin too.
“They’re all top class guys so to be second to them is a good achievement but it was something I always wanted. I didn’t think it would be today though. I guess you just take the chances when they come and I’m glad it worked out today.”
Sean Lacey on his ride into Lisdoonvarna
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