Irish club rider on attacking with the pros on Rás queen stage
A Waterford man riding for a Down team on the Rás this week, Marc Flavin as the only amateur and the only Irish rider to make the early escape yesterday (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Marc Flavin had a day to remember at the An Post Rás yesterday when he spent much of the stage between Bundoran and Buncrana up the road in a strong seven-man break
The Waterford man, riding for Newry Wheelers, was the only county rider in the selection. And that fact made it all the more memorable, though he was very much feeling the effects of his efforts last night.
“Establishing the break and riding with them was just horrendous,” he told us from the team hotel.
Advertisement
“My five-minute peak power for the day was when we were establishing that break.
“You’re saying ‘will I just throw in the towel and go back to the bunch?’.
“But then you look up and see the top of the climb and think, if I get just there,’… The pros are okay, they have legs to go again.
Related News
Riding the Rás in his more familiar local colours 12 months ago (Photo: George Doyle)
“We got a minute gap at the base of the first KOH (after 80k) and I could see we had a tailwind up it. So I said to the boys ‘I’m not riding through on the hills and I’ll do what I can on the flat’.
“All of them weren’t happy with that but that’s what was going to happen, I’m on holidays for the week here.”
Flavin is in his third An Post Rás and was up the road with Gruffud Lewis (Madison Genesis), Monday’s stage winner Jan Willem Van Schip (Delta Cycling Rotterdam), Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw (An Post Chain Reaction), Dexter Gardias (Bike Channel Canyon UK), Joey Walker (Britain Team Wiggins) and Yannis Yssaad (France Armee de Terre).
And when they hit the climbs after the 100-kilometre mark he knew he was in trouble.
“We got caught and Cam Meyer (Australian National Team) came through me and he just had the bunch lined up.
“It was phenomenal the speed they came through. I went into one group, got spat out, into another group, got spat out and we hit Mamore Gap then and it was just incredible.
“I’ve never done anything like it, it was brutal, it was unbelievable, it was like riding the Tour de France. Everyone was in on top of you, there great atmosphere up there.”
Topics
