Mark Dowling has won many of the biggest races on the domestic calendar but the Tour of Ulster is one that eludes him. The DID Electrical Dunboyne man is three seconds off the lead and he's one man the riders will need to keep a close watch on the final stage (Photo: Toby Watson)
Mark Dowling could become part of a very select group of riders to win the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, the Suir Valley Three Day and the Tour of Ulster, as he trails race leader Eoin Morton by just three seconds going into the final stage in Ulster today, Monday.
If he is to win outright, DID Electrical Dunboyne rider Dowling needs to get away from Morton and hope the others at the top of the standings don’t beat him.
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“I’m happy enough with my form and that’s the important thing,” said Dowling.
“I’d planned to take time off directly after the Des Hanlon," he said of his win in Carlow in March.
"And the plan has been to build up for the Rás with Rás Mumhan, Ulster, the Elliott; and be pinging for the Rás. And that seems to be playing out at the moment.”
Dowling was 11th in the prologue on Friday night, 7.24 seconds slower than stage winner Damien Shaw (Team ASEA).
“I didn’t have a super TT, I just didn’t do a good time and I found it very hard to push myself," he said.
“It was so cold (on the abandoned stage 2) and I found it hard going so I just attacked to try and stay warm, even though it came to nothing.
Of yesterday's stage 3 where he was 3rd and part of the winning four-man escape he said: "I was happy enough, I knew I’d do well enough because I had decent legs.
Dowling, far right, full throttle in the sprint that decided stage 3 yesterday. He would finish 3rd on the day and move into 2nd overall behind new leader Eoin Morton, far left (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
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“I tried to drag a group away so I put it in the gutter a bit. But the group was too big and wasn’t really working,” he said of the 15-man break that went clear around the midway point.
“I was getting quite frustrated and a lot of others were the same, so instead of attacking I bided my time.
“Coming to the last categorised climb, myself, Wouter Sybrandy (Velo Café Magasin) and Ed Laverack (Cheshire JLT Condor) went clear with (Sean) Lacey (Aquablue), (Sean) McKenna (Irish Development team) and (Bryan) McCrystal (team ASEA).
“I just put in a hard dig to put out a bit of a feeler, I looked back and saw the two British guys (Laverack and Sybrandy) had a gap on the rest so I eased up a bit, got them on my wheel and put the hammer down to get away.”
Morton managed to ride across and that’s where the hurt really started.
“We all rode flat out for that final 40 or so kilometres, no one skipped a turn right to the finish.
“I guess I was always going to finish third in the sprint but I got the best result I could on the day.
“It’s completely open now though, so many guys are up there in contention. It should be a cracking final day.”
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