Out of Fermoy: Robert-Jon McCarthy wins the Australian junior title this year
By Brian Canty
Robert-Jon McCarthy hit the base of the Cauberg at the Junior World Championships in Holland last month and had his Australian team mate Caleb Ewan stuck to his wheel.
For a minute, the Cork-born rider thought he’d be part of a gold medal winning team. But Ewan was beaten on the line and they had to be content with silver.
McCarthy, born in Fermoy where he lived until he was aged 14 years, has had a remarkable year and though coming to the end of his junior career, he looks more than capable of making the step-up to U23 level.
He was crowned National Road Race Champion in July after finishing school – beating Ewan in a sprint. The South Australian Sports Institute was quick to snap him up after he bagged that title.
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Though he initially found the move to Australia difficult, he now believes he wouldn’t be where he is in the sport if the McCarthy clan had not made the move Down Under.
“My family moved over here for the better lifestyle really,” he said.
“I only started cycling because my Dad (Noel) was a cyclist. I was handy enough underage; I won a couple of national titles in Ireland. And then when we moved here I took a year out because I was settling into life here. But I came back and just enjoyed the bike again.”
“Towards the end of U16 I started to get a bit better and be a bit more competitive and was featuring on the national scene. By the time I was junior I was pretty serious about it and competitive as well.”
“I didn’t want to come out here at first because I knew I’d be leaving family and friends behind but once I got here… when I started school everyone here was very welcoming and when I got into it then I was loving it. With the weather and the way of life here, it’s way more active and I love it.”
He says he couldn’t be in better hands with a federation that shaped the likes of Matt Goss and Cadel Evans.
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“At the moment the set up is pretty good – it’s the South Australian Sports Institute team I’m with. So they’re like a Government-funded team and they feed into the national programme. So with that you get all the facilities like the lab testing, the sports scientists and all that kind of thing. The team itself is a good group of guys and we enjoy racing together. We all ride as a team and do the one job for a guy.”
This year, their main job was to try and win the World title in Holland.
“For us, the plan was all about Caleb Ewan. He had some really good form going into it and the Cauberg suited him really well so the plan was for him to get away over that. He tried getting away but was pulled back. My job was basically to take him to the bottom of the Cauberg; first wheel, last time.”
“So I just did a big commitment on the last lap for about a kilometre and a half and when we hit the Cauberg I was just empty and hoped for the best for him. He got second in the sprint which we were all thrilled with. It was just an amazing experience with the crowd buzzing. All the other countries as well there, it was just a wall of noise because we were racing the same day as the seniors.”
Following that sterling ride, he did get some offers from development teams on the Continent, but he said he’ll stay put for the time being.
“I had to do a lot of looking around this year to see where I want to go next year and I had a couple of offers from development teams in Europe. But I don’t think anywhere is as good as where I am now.”
“In terms of the national federation and the support they provide and how they look after us, it’s almost like a pro team setup. Everything has a purpose; now I’m in the South Australian Sports Institute which leads into the U23 programme and the goal from that is to turn professional so that’s what you’re working for and you’ve always got the focus and the goals there to help you. They’ve turned out so many pros that it gives me confidence, the likes of Goss, Evans and Gerrans.”
Finally to the €64,000 question, is he Irish or Australian?
“It’s hard to say,” he laughs.
“I’ll always be Irish but at the same time I’ve become a bit Australian so it’s a bit of a mix. I consider myself both. Like, at the Worlds you’d hear the Irish accents and that would give you a bit of a spur on but then you’d see the Aussie flag as well... it’s a difficult question.”
Robert-Jon McCarthy (left) with cousin and Irish international Eoin McCarthy in Belgium this summer
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