Mark Dowling rode the Tour of Taiwan with his Polygon Sweet Nice squad this year but said after that it was all downhill, with the team folding in the past week (Photo: Lydia van de Meerssche)
By Gerard Cromwell
Having been left high and dry by the collapse of his Polygon Sweet Nice UCI Continental-level team this week, a disheartened Mark Dowling is currently weighing up his options for 2014.
“I’ve no idea what I’m doing to be honest,” former national hill climb champion Dowling admitted.
“I’m just fed up with the whole situation. I was out doing a two week training block in Lanzarote when I got the news so it’s very frustrating."
After a promising start to the 2013 season, the Polygon Sweet Nice team slowly disintegrated and Dowling admits the news of their final demise came as little surprise to him.
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"At the start, everything was going to plan. We went to the Tour of Taiwan which was a really big race to get into. When we were over there, we were supposed to fly to Thailand for the Tour of Thailand and then onto the Tour of the Philippines.
“But when we were in Taiwan we quickly realised that Thailand wasn’t going ahead and the team didn’t seem too worried. It was only myself and Ryan (Sherlock) that seemed worried about it. That was the start of it really.
“They brought us out to Indonesia, which is no place for a cyclist. I just got out of there, paid my own flights, got home. It took me quite a while to recover and I was going terrible in the races here when I got back.
“We got promised so many races during the season; going to China here and Kazakhstan there…. Everything was all booked and ready to go the days before and then it fell apart. So when the team fell through I really just didn’t give a toss to be honest.”
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Although he will continue to ride his bike next year, Dowling has no idea where or who with at the moment.
“I’m not even looking for a team at the moment. There are a lot of riders panicking, looking for teams but I’m not bothered with any of it to be honest. I’m just going to ride my bike and enjoy it.
“I’m very busy in work as well, which is probably part of the reason why. I’m in a position where I can work away fine with the family business (a sports equipment firm) and if something comes up I can go away and race a bit. If something doesn’t come up I can stay in work. It doesn’t really bother me either way.”
The flexibility offered by Polygon Sweet Nice was one of the things that suited Dowling this year, meaning the Dubliner could combine periods of work and training at home with periods of racing abroad.
“I have had an option from a French division one team. It’s up to me to sign if I want to go back. Division one teams have a higher standard of racing and a bigger budget than most Continental teams, up to €700,000 a year.
“It’s a good set-up but it’s up to me to work things out with the family business and see if I want to go all the way over there again. I probably would if it was flexible; if I could race out there and come home and help out in the shop and stuff.
“At the moment the only thing I’m interested in is riding my bike and enjoying it and not worrying about the stress of teams or anything like that. Dunboyne is my club. They took me on when I started cycling. I’ve been with them since and I don’t see any need to leave them.”
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