Stamullen rider Bill Moore took a famous win for the county men back in the 2005 Rás on the closing stage. Conor Dunne has done it this year on the first day, reminding us that the Rás can still be magic for the county men and the clubs that do it for pride.
Former international Brian Ahern has had many a strong Rás riding for his club team Orwell Wheelers and other county teams down the years. Forced to miss the race this year through injury, he says Conor Dunne’s win for Ireland while riding on a county team is the kind of victory that the Irish lads dream of.
In 2005, I didn’t ride the Rás but I watched the final stage in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, as the riders whizzed around the old triangle circuit. I was standing about 200m from the finish line and saw county rider Bill Moore of Stamullen hammering up the right hand side of the bunch and from a distance I saw him raise his fist in the air after crossing the line having won the stage.
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I watched the podium ceremony with a few fellow riders and observed the body language of the guys up there. The jersey winners were sitting waiting nonchalantly before going through the motions of receiving their flowers, crystal and kiss on the cheek off Miss FBD Rás.
Then there was Bill.
He may have been trying to act cool on the podium but he failed miserably. Waiting for his stage winners’ award with a massive grin, waving to his clubmates, family and of course his managers Gaybo and Kay Howard. The look of genuine delight, almost disbelief, was palpable and the group of us watching were genuinely delighted to see somebody on the podium being so happy about it! There and then, I made a promise to myself that if I ever made it onto a podium I was going to be just like Bill.
Today, Conor Dunne of the Carrick Iverk Produce team had a day that he will cherish forever. I sincerely hope he milks every bit of the recognition he gets as it’s thoroughly deserved and he did it the hard way after a brave breakaway.
I have been following Conor’s blog over the last number of months and having spent a short time racing in Belgium myself, I can fully appreciate how hard his lifestyle is. On a day like he had today, I hope all of his sacrifices feel worth while. Well done young man!
Many county riders will be throwing their eyes up to heaven if that’s the competition they are faced with this week. Conor is clearly going to be at a different level to the guy who works a 40-hour week. I must admit that after I finished 2nd county rider on a stage last year behind Aaron Buggle who had been racing in France I felt a little hard done by. Hopefully other county riders will get their chance to shine during the week and get their moment on the podium.
In my first post, I correctly picked (steady on – Ed) Mehall Fitzgerald of the www.visitnenagh.ie team as the county rider winner and he will be the first proud wearer of the county rider jersey after finishing 9th on the stage. The stage winner may have won the county prize, but Fitzy gets the jersey because Conor Dunne is now in yellow.
Fitzy has won no less than five stages of the Rás in the 1990's and now he’s back. His sprinting speed is phenomenal but more important than that, he’s an incredibly skilful rider who is also a little bit nuts. That helps when you’re a sprinter.
The sprinters are the daredevils of the bunch and getting involved is not for the feint hearted. You will be shouldered, leaned on, elbowed and perhaps head-butted. It is tough for the county rider who’s not used to this aggression and trying to break into the top-10/15 riders is not so much about sprinting speed but your positioning hitting that last 1km.
Another Rás vetern, Eugene Moriarty (DID Dunboyne) was next best county rider in 19th place which is another great result and no surprise. He won the county rider award on stage 8 last year and no doubt he has one eye on stage 3 into his home town of Listowel.
Young Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne) finishing in 29th was the only other county rider in the top 30 and he can look forward to a successful week after working hard last winter.
It was great to read the live updates with so many county riders getting into the mix of the racing today. Roger Aiken (Louth) and Con Collis (UCD) were both in the dangerous break of 18 riders that on another day may have been allowed to get away. Ray O’Shaughnessy (Louth) also put in a huge effort towards the end of the stage that unfortunately for him, proved fruitless.
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Stage 1 has always been my least favourite stage of the week due to the nervousness in the peloton. Any county rider who got through today in the front bunch should be very proud of a fantastic achievement. Others will have suffered bad luck and lost time and they will need to stay motivated and remember tomorrow is another day.
The most disappointed county riders will be the guys who had good legs but missed the split in the peloton due their poor positioning. If you’re at the back when a lineout starts and a gap opens up ten riders in front of you, for the mere mortal it is next to impossible to regain contact with the main bunch. Hopefully those guys will have learned their lesson and not make the same mistake again this week.
Tomorrow’s stage 2 will head south to Nenagh and it’s unlikely to be a decisive stage for the GC riders. If the weather remains pleasant and there’s little or no wind, the flat terrain should mean it’s likely to finish in a bunch sprint.
Should that be the case I think it would be foolish to bet against Fitzy again. He will be extra motivated riding for visitnenagh.ie into the town of his sponsors. Then again, this is the Rás and anything can happen.
Stage 1 was 135.4kms long and the official average speed was 48.06kph or 29.91mph. That’s fast. While the pros will look on today as a relatively straightforward bread and butter stage, an average county rider will be feeling it in their legs already. Tomorrow is Monday and most of these guys would normally be getting up for work. This week however, they will be professional cyclists - living the dream.
Cheers
Brian
County Rider Stage 1 Placings
| PL | No. | Name | TM | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 164 | Dunne,C | = | 2h48’55" | |
| 2 | 167 | Fitzgerald,M | @ | 23" | |
| 3 | 152 | Moriarty,E | @ | 23" | |
| 4 | 151 | Nulty,J | @ | 23" | |
| 5 | 109 | McMaster,J | @ | 23" | |
| 6 | 113 | Parker,B | @ | 23" | |
| 7 | 114 | Collis,C | @ | 23" | |
| 8 | 108 | Duncan,F | @ | 23" | |
| 9 | 170 | McCarthy,E | @ | 23" | |
| 10 | 95 | Fenlon,J | @ | 23" | |
| 11 | 134 | Joyce,D | @ | 23" | |
| 12 | 175 | Moynihan,C | @ | 23" | |
| 13 | 168 | Slattery,M | @ | 23" | |
| 14 | 136 | Aiken,R | @ | 23" | |
| 15 | 94 | Barry,T | @ | 23" | |
| 16 | 107 | Martin,T | @ | 23" | |
| 17 | 155 | O’Regan,T | @ | 23" | |
| 18 | 138 | O’Shaughnessy,R | @ | 23" | |
| 19 | 150 | Quigley,M | @ | 23" | |
| 20 | 91 | Lacey,S | @ | 23" | |
| 21 | 93 | Barrett,O | @ | 23" | |
| 22 | 142 | Clarke,C | @ | 23" | |
| 23 | 129 | Downey,E | @ | 23" | |
| 24 | 106 | Murphy,C | @ | 23" | |
| 25 | 105 | Watson,D | @ | 23" | |
| 26 | 163 | Mizgajski,M | @ | 23" | |
| 27 | 161 | Dempsey,J | @ | 23" | |
| 28 | 169 | Ryan,S | @ | 23" | |
| 29 | 181 | Forde,N | @ | 23" | |
| 30 | 135 | Ryder,M | @ | 23" | |
| 31 | 165 | Fitzgerald,M | @ | 23" | |
| 32 | 92 | Shaw,D | @ | 23" | |
| 33 | 118 | Davenport,J | @ | 23" | |
| 34 | 116 | MacManusa,A | @ | 23" | |
| 35 | 120 | Sheehan,G | @ | 23" | |
| 36 | 154 | O’Sullivan,S | @ | 23" | |
| 37 | 153 | Meehan,A | @ | 23" | |
| 38 | 110 | Armstrong,A | @ | 23" | |
| 39 | 127 | Collins,D | @ | 23" | |
| 40 | 157 | Reilly,C | @ | 23" | |
| 41 | 128 | Connors,O | @ | 23" | |
| 42 | 111 | Lynch,J | @ | 42" | |
| 43 | 117 | O’Donoghue,A | @ | 23" | |
| 44 | 97 | McIlwaine,D | @ | 10’11" | |
| 45 | 130 | Crowley,A | @ | 10’11" | |
| 46 | 140 | McCrystal,B | @ | 11’32" | |
| 47 | 148 | Gilvarry,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 48 | 112 | Richardson,I | @ | 18’17" | |
| 49 | 99 | Potts,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 50 | 98 | O’Hagan,N | @ | 18’17" | |
| 51 | 149 | Harrington,D | @ | 18’17" | |
| 52 | 144 | Storan,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 53 | 137 | Coyle,U | @ | 18’17" | |
| 54 | 162 | Lucey,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 55 | 100 | Jeffries,O | @ | 18’17" | |
| 56 | 132 | Clifford,E | @ | 18’17" | |
| 57 | 146 | Marrey,P | @ | 18’17" | |
| 58 | 147 | Flaherty,J | @ | 18’17" | |
| 59 | 131 | Behan,D | @ | 18’17" | |
| 60 | 133 | Frawley,L | @ | 18’17" | |
| 61 | 185 | McCarthy,J | @ | 18’17" | |
| 62 | 123 | Doyle,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 63 | 145 | McCormack,G | @ | 18’17" | |
| 64 | 176 | Cullen,B | @ | 18’17" | |
| 65 | 122 | O’Leary,N | @ | 18’17" | |
| 66 | 158 | O’Connor,F | @ | 18’17" | |
| 67 | 159 | Cox,S | @ | 18’17" | |
| 68 | 143 | Clarke,P | @ | 18’17" | |
| 69 | 156 | Robinson,C | @ | 18’17" | |
| 70 | 101 | Blayney,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 71 | 103 | Henry,S | @ | 18’17" | |
| 72 | 178 | Dempsey,G | @ | 18’17" | |
| 73 | 139 | Quinn,C | @ | 18’17" | |
| 74 | 125 | Duke,D | @ | 18’17" | |
| 75 | 171 | Lavery,T | @ | 18’17" | |
| 76 | 166 | Butler,M | @ | 18’17" | |
| 77 | 115 | Morton,E | @ | 31’36" | |
| 78 | 121 | Enright,S | @ | 31’36" | |
| 79 | 174 | Sherman,M | @ | 31’36" | |
| 80 | 177 | Byrne,H | @ | 31’36" | |
| 81 | 183 | Bourke,T | @ | 31’36" | |
| 82 | 96 | McKinney,B | @ | 31’36" | |
| 83 | 126 | Collins,A | @ | 31’36" | |
| 84 | 160 | Burke,A | @ | 31’36" | |
| 85 | 180 | Coughlan,N | @ | 31’36" | |
| 86 | 102 | Hanna,C | @ | 31’36" | |
| 87 | 119 | Moloney,B | @ | 31’36" | |
| 88 | 184 | Forde,P | @ | 31’36" | |
| 89 | 179 | Whitty,D | @ | 31’36" | |
| 90 | 173 | Power,F | @ | 31’36" | |
| 91 | 172 | Conlan,G | @ | 31’36" |
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