By Shane Stokes
Daire Feeley realised a dream on Sunday when he sealed victory in the Rás Tailteann, ending a 14 year wait for an Irish winner. A huge crowd gathered at the new finish at Blackrock, County Louth, witnessing the success of the Roscommon rider in Irish cycling’s biggest stage race.
Feeley crossed the line celebrating the victory and was immediately surrounded by teammates and others from the Cork All Human Velo Revolution team. He received bear hugs, handshakes and pats on the back, with many competitors from other teams, race officials and members of the public also giving their congratulations.
He became emotional for a while as the scale of what he had achieved sank in, his eyes welling up, then explained to stickybottle what he was feeling.
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“It is incredible. As you have just witnessed, that is the first time I have ever cried when I won a bike race,” he said. “It means so much to me. An incredible feeling. An incredible feeling.”
Like others at the finish line, race announcer Cian Lynch was able to watch live footage on a huge screen and called out that Feeley was already celebrating long before the finish line.
“It felt amazing,” the race winner said of hie emotions on the finishing straight. “Amazing. It didn’t hit me until I stopped.
“I just remember coming around the corner with 200 metres to go and Richie [Richard Maes] said to me ‘you’ve won the Rás, boy.’ That was brilliant, so it was.”
Feeley appeared to gain momentum as the Rás went on. He was 29th on the opening stage and then pushed forward on day two, going clear in a large breakaway group and then attacking with four others inside the final ten kilometres prior to the steep Crags Cave climb.
While British rider Louis Sutton (Spain Brocar-Ale) was able to shake off Feeley and his other two companions on the climb and two others got past the Roscommon rider by the line, he gained several seconds on the main field and ended the day eighth overall.
He then moved to the fore on stage three, escaping early on on with eight others and building a gap of over four minutes. He and Adam Ward (Ireland National Team) then attacked with more than 25 kilometres remaining and hit the line in Lisdoonvarna over a minute clear of the next riders. Race leader Sutton finished one minute 54 seconds behind Ward and one minute 52 behind Feeley, putting the latter firmly in the yellow jersey.
He and his VeloRevolution team then defended the lead on stage four, ensuring Feeley had a 51 second lead in hand over Sutton starting the final stage.
It was a comfortable advantage but Sutton said he wasn’t giving up. “Anything can happen, it’s the Rás.”
“The final crit is very technical and I think you can get time there. Their team is clearly very strong. Daire wants to keep his jersey as much as anything, so everyone will be trying their hardest. But we will try, there is no point in just giving up and taking second.”
The race was close to being over, but wasn’t quite there yet. An upset was still possible.
"We'll thrown everything at it, so we will"
Feeley was literally front and centre as the riders stood at the start line in Kinnegad, counting down the minutes until the flag dropped and the most important race of his life began. He said that he was nervous, but regarded that emotional state as a good thing rather than something to be concerned about.
“It is the biggest race on the calendar for us,” he explained. “So to be leading it, there are butterflies in the stomach, but nerves are good. They give you that edge that you need. When the legs start to hurt we will start pedalling the bike with our heart, so we will, and do everything we can.”
The 25 year old was likely driven in part by a sense of history. He stood to become the first Irish Rás winner since Stephen Gallagher in 2008, and the first Irish county rider to triumph since Tommy Evans did so with Armagh in 1996. Ending a 14 year wait since the last Irish champion was a huge motivating factor.
But there was also another factor spurring him on, namely the feedback he had been getting from other people. “It has been very positive. Incredible,” he said. “The amount of messages of support I have been getting up until this point has been brilliant. That was before the race even started.
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“So I really do appreciate it, it just give me that edge that I need just to push it on a little bit more.”
He then said a curious thing, something that was a little unexpected from a rider who was in yellow with a solid buffer.
“One more attack today, we will throw everything at it, so we will,” he said.
“It has been four days of suffering up until this point and knowing that the finish line is going to give us that drive we need. We are not going to go down without a fight.”
Speaking about going on the offensive was unexpected, given that Rás leaders have tended to defend rather than attack on the final day, but that’s exactly how things played out.
Inside the final 50 kilometres of racing George Kimber (Britain Spirit BSS) and Alex Malcarne (Britain Trinity Racing) opened up a ten second lead. While Kimber had started the day a full one minute and 46 seconds off yellow in ninth overall and was therefore of little threat, Feeley jumped across the gap with Marc Potts (Tyrone Team Caldwell Cycles).
The bunch closed down the move, but the race leader was at it again with 30 kilometres remaining, clipping away with William Perrett (Dublin Spellman Dublin Port), Archie Ryan (Ireland National Team), Dean Watson (Britain Embark-Bikestrong) and Aaron Watson (Down Powerhouse Sport). Watson slipped back, but with Feeley taking big turns at the front, they built a gap of 27 seconds with 15 kilometres remaining.
It was hugely unexpected to see the Rás race leader driving the pace in a break on the final stage. Feeley explained the circumstances afterwards.
“It was funny one, the way it went,” he told stickybottle. “There was a lot of racing up until the two KOMs, which allowed the race to stay together. And then before we hit the circuits, the team just rode at the front. If there was movement off the front and I jumped with it. I saw one of the Irish guys go and it just happened to be a bit of entertainment before we crossed the line.”
Still, as exciting as it was for the large Blackrock crowd, the ‘attack as a form of defence’ approach was a surprise.
“People think I am crazy attacking the whole time but I think I’ve actually ridden the Rás very similar to the way that I normally ride any race in Ireland,” he said. “The beauty of it was to take the pressure off the team on the finishing circuits. That made the job a lot easier, and they were able to just monitor moves and have me in my position out of trouble as I crossed the line. So it worked out really well in the end.”
“We thought we could get there [to dispute the stage win], but the yellow jersey was the main thing and I am absolutely delighted I have it.”
So what is next for him? As he stood at the presentation podium about an hour after the Rás finished, clad in the final yellow jersey, a large laurel wreath around his neck and new fans looking for selfies and signatures, he looked at ease. The Irish minister for Sport Jack Chambers spoke to him and his father Noel and stood beside him for photographs, as did a local councillor.
They wanted a little of the glow of the yellow jersey; just as with the other photo requests, Feeley was okay with that.
Two older male fans walked up looking for a signature. When the ink in the pen ran out, Feeley waited for another pen to be found and competed the signing, then hung the laurel wreath around the neck of one of those two new fans.
“That’s for you,” he said, making the fan’s day.
He then thought and talked about the immediate future.
“As I said to you earlier, if I won the Rás that would be completing cycling for me,” he told stickybottle. “But we will have to let this one set in first of all, and hopefully turn our attention to the national championships next Sunday.”
He was second there last year behind Ryan Mullen, beating several professional riders in the process. Adding another jersey to his collection would be a huge plus, but the pressure is off.
“Regardless of how that goes, my season is a huge success.”
