Timmy Barry in the climbers' jersey at Rás Mumhan; he took his first ever stage win there at Easter and his Aquablue team took outright victory with Damian Shaw
By Brian Canty
Timmy Barry grabbed his second win of the season on Sunday at the Visit Nenagh Classic in a style that suggests the Corkman is among the most likely county riders to make an impact at next month’s An Post Rás.
Barry, who won a thrilling stage two of Rás Mumhan just a few weeks back, was active at the head of affairs throughout Sunday and when the race came down to a war of attrition it was inevitable he’d be in the mix.
As it happened, he made his most significant move on the penultimate climb of the day and managed to shake off An Post’s Ronan McLaughlin before escaping with his team-mate Damian Shaw to stay away to the finish; a perfect day. But it hadn’t begun so smoothly, with an early puncture threatening his chances.
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“I had to change a wheel early on but thanks to the lads at Planet Tri, Michael and Patsy (Crowley); they helped me out with a quick change and I had to chase hard for 10k. When I went back up there was loads of attacking, no break as such, just loads of attacking.”
He continued: “The race was just going forward and forward all day. Then on the fourth climb there was a bit of pressure at the front and there was five of us left; Ronan (McLaughlin), myself, Sean (Lacey), Paidi (O’Brien) and Mark Dowling (Polygon Sweet Nice). But again there was a re-grouping. But every time it did there was less people getting back on.”
“Then coming into Nenagh before we went onto the finishing loop (40k approx.) there was a split in a crosswind so I was up the road with Sean, with Ronan and one or two of the Dutch guys, then more came across. So we came to the second last climb and there was 25 guys maybe.”
“Damian made the first attack there and split it up. There was a chase after him and then maybe ten were left. So I counter-attacked and four came up to me and that was it until the last climb. It was survival of the fittest really, no massive attacks but constant pressure.”
“The plan all day was just to keep ourselves in contention and not let the race go away from us. It was always going to be a whittling down process. The front group just got smaller and smaller. So you just have to make sure you are there and thankfully the two of us managed to get away and we worked well together to the finish,” he added.
Barry will now go to the Tour of Ulster as one of the favourites, while his Aquablue team-mates Lacey and Shaw will also form part of what is set to be another strong line-up, featuring up to eight riders intent on riding the An Post Rás next month.
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That’s something sure to give the team some headaches as they try and pick five from all of the riders in contention.
“It’s going to be an interesting last few weeks. It will come down a combination of results and how a rider’s form is, because the Rás is still a month away. We’ve all seen it before with county teams; you pick a team now but the rider you leave out comes into form for the Rás and all of a sudden he’s having a great Rás but he’s in the wrong jersey.”
“The results speak for themselves but you have to look at form as well. It’ll be a tough one. Other years we’ve had just five guys. Last year we had to bring in Robin Kelly and Aaron Buggle and this year then we’ve more than five wanting to do it.”
“After Ulster some might turn around and say ‘rule me out’. And selection will take care of itself. Every one of our riders has something though. I’d say each of them would get on any team in the country.”
Looking back to Rás Mumhan, Barry was delighted to notch his first ever stage win there, but more so to play a key role in Shaw winning it outright. The performances in Kerry made Barry’s record in the race quite formidable – three wins from four. And he pinpointed the moment, or day, that the race was won.
“On Sunday Shaw had a problem with the front mech after Valentia and he was panicking, asking me should he change the bike or do this or that. I told him it was crosswind right after Ballinskelligs and then crosswind from the left. So he actually didn’t need it because the way the wind was blowing; it slowed down the pace.”
“When he went all the Dutch riders saw him. They all saw him and no one could go after him. Then he crossed the gap to the break and though they had it down to around 25 seconds with 10k to go, they couldn’t bridge to him. That’s where Damian’s strength’s came in and he just powered away.”
“A lot of people said we made a mistake on Saturday because Damian lost the jersey but we were delighted after the stage. We had two stage wins, two of us in the top three and a stage ahead of us that we knew like the backs of our hands. That Valentia stage is a hard one to defend the jersey on. It’s all very well looking at the pros riding at the front, it’s all ‘Eurosport cycling’; it looks great, it looks easy. But it isn’t easy.”
“Anyone who has to ride at the front of the bunch trying to defend a jersey – you do a couple of kilometres at the front, come to a drag and suddenly everyone goes past you and your legs are full. Then you have to drag your ass up the front and do it again and again.”
“So around Valentia we were delighted the Dutch team had to defend the jersey and then Damian, it was just a matter of holding the reins on him, hold him back, hold him back and then pull the pin out of the grenade and let him go.”
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