Double Olympian and former Ras winner, David McCann has said the coming season will be his last but he wants to get selected for the London Olympics and try to win the Ras again before the curtain comes down on his career.
The 37-year-old told stickybottle the imminent birth of his third child in the next fortnight means he has now reached a stage where he is ready for life away from racing.
However, he said his training has been going well and he is looking forward to the coming season. He believes he can gain selection for the Olympic road race and TT and also says he is still strong enough to win the Ras again.
He would approach the Olympic selection issue by simply riding as well as he could in the first months of the season and securing the results needed.
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“They’re picking the team very early so it will be all about the results in March, April, May. I’ll be riding the Tour of Oman and then the Tour of Qatar. Then a few days after that we go to the Tour of Langkawi. I’ve been close there to a win before; got a couple of seconds. There’s a longer TT in that this year so I would love to go for that.”
“The Asian calendar is very top heavy in that it’s busy at the start of the year. So I will give it everything in the first half of the season and we’ll see what happens. It’s up to myself really; being picked for the Olympics will be a by-product of results you get in those early months.”
He said he usually came into his best form around the time of the Games (July/August) and said his programme in the run up to London 2012 was “perfect” preparation.
“Just before the Olympics we’ll be riding the Tour of Qinghai. That’s at altitude so the programme is perfect. The climate and everything will obviously completely suit me for London for the TT. I can definitely play a big role in the road race as well.”
Ireland has qualified three places for the road race in London and only one place for the TT. The entrant into the TT must be one of the trio that rides the road race, under UCI rules.
Most observers would say Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche will be picked for the road race; leaving McCann, Philip Deignan and Matt Brammeier for the last spot.
McCann and Brammeier are the best time trial riders of the five, meaning the last berth in London will likely come down to a contest between those two.
However, McCann does not completely subscribe to that view. He said the fact the Olympics comes immediately after the Tour de France means anyone who has ridden the Tour may do well in London “or it may be a disaster”.
He refused to rule out any of the five being selected. He said if the selection fight came down to himself and Brammeier, he did not believe his age or the fact he is riding the Asian circuit rather than the stronger European circuit will be a factor.
“The selection criteria is very open, it is all about results. The Olympics is perfect timing for when I hit top form and it’s perfect timing in my programme. Matt will also have team duties in those early months of the year. I’ve already been to two Olympics in Sydney and Athens but I’ve never been picked for the TT, which I always thought was a bit strange.”
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His best TT rides were 11th in the World Championships in Mendrisio in Switzerland in 2009 and 15th in Verona in 2004.
Apart from his focus on the early months of the season with a view to Olympic selection, McCann also wants to ride the An Post Ras with his RTS Racing Team; which is effectively his Giant Kenda team backed by new sponsor RTS Carbon, a bike manufacturer.
“It’s hard to get an invite to the Ras now but we definitely want to ride it and we are just waiting to hear back about that. We want to go and try and win it again.”
He reacts with laughter to the suggestion that his age might hamper his recovery in stage races.
“Did you not see the bunch trying to catch me on stage eight in the Ras last year?” he jokes.
McCann won the stage after a near stage-long breakaway in which he dropped those with him to take a solo win.
“With age, I’ve found that you can just keep going. I could go for two weeks, even three. It is probably because of the way I’ve ridden my career, with lots of stage races.”
When the first half of the season is over and the Olympic team is picked and goes to London, he says he is ready for life’s next phase.
“This year will be one of transition for me; I’ll definitely push on into coaching. I’ve already been coaching some riders for a few years and to be honest I’ve been turning people away because I have to say to them that I just wouldn’t have the time to do it properly with a big number; I wouldn’t be one for just firing (training) programmes at people, you have to do it properly.”
McCann said the 2012 season would be his last spent racing in Asia. He added while he would not be keen to keep racing at a lower level, he “might be persuaded to do the odd race or two”.
He insisted his age was not a factor in his decision. He felt as physically strong as ever. However, he was simply ready to move on with his life. As well as developing a coaching business, he was also interested in starting a new team in Ireland.
“I’ve always lamented the fact that the good riders all leave these shores to race,” he said.
“I think what’s happening here is that you can see one or two of the teams are now getting more organised. I think if you’ve more of that, more good guys wouldn’t go away and the standard of racing would get better anyway with more organised teams. “I would love to get some strong Irish riders into a team, manage it, get them organised. I have the contacts now, especially in Asia, to get into some big races. Let’s see what happens.”
