Declan Hanrahan has defended himself against comments made by John Madden, the man he beat to take the Masters' 50 national road race title last Saturday, above (Photo www.jimmymcelroy.com)
By Brian Canty
Declan Hanrahan has defended the manner in which he won last Saturday’s Masters’ 50 road race title in Omagh, having been strongly criticised by runner-up John Madden (Dig Deep Coaching).
The Carrick Wheelers man got away with Madden approaching the finish but refused to work with him.
Madden has said they agreed he would do the work on the front of their two-man move for the final couple of kilometres in exchange for Hanrahan agreeing not to sprint at the finish and settling for silver.
But Hanrahan has insisted no such agreement was reached.
“I knew of his reputation as a tester so I couldn’t leave him out of my sight,” said Hanrahan of Madden, who is renowned for his strength in time trials.
Advertisement
“He was my number one danger man and he did his best to get rid of me.
“He attacked three times and the first time I was put to the pin of my collar to match him.”
Hanrahan said it was important to note that he had been away for the second lap on his own.
“I then got clear again later in a group and did most of the work. And (Madden) only came across to us well inside the last 10km.
“So it’s not as if I sat on the wheels for the race; I rode hard for the whole thing as I have done for the whole season, getting in the breakaways.”
The pair would attack the escape they were in in the last 7km or so.
However, Hanrahan said he was confident of winning a sprint either between himself and Madden, or between the group if they were caught.
And because of his unwillingness to work, he and Madden were caught by the group.
But when Madden attacked again with just a few kilometres remaining, Hanrahan said he again went after him. This time they stayed away.
“We easily got away from the others but my game plan was that I could beat him in a sprint and win it.
Related News
“I felt reasonably confident about beating the others (behind) so it was up to someone else to get away from me.
“That’s how I played it; I marked him all the way to the finish.
“I told him I wasn’t riding. I felt by the state of the others I could win the gallop so I didn’t ride with Madden.”
Asked whether there was a deal done on the road he said: “No, no there wasn’t. He kept asking me to do turns but I kept saying I wasn’t going to do anything.
“The fact he kept attacking indicated there was no arrangement.
“The way I saw it was that he decided he wasn’t going to win in a sprint so he had to keep going.
“He was talking the whole time and I kept saying: ‘Just keep on riding. I’m doing what I need to do’.
“I was marking him and that’s how I played the game. I know he said it to me afterwards and he was really browned off.
"I don’t know why but I was never, ever going to work with him and I didn’t tell him I would.
"There was a lot of conversation; he kept talking and talking but I kept saying ‘keep on going, keep on going’.”
Madden, indeed, took Hanrahan to the line and would pay for that; the Carrick man sprinting past him to take the Irish title.
“He wasn’t in very good humour afterwards,” said the winner.
“I said to him that I didn’t agree to giving him the win and he must have misconstrued something but he was very annoyed.
“He’s an exceptionally strong rider but I had him marked out. When he attacked the first time I saw he was strong.
"He wanted me to come to the front straight away so that he could put in another attack. It came down to me not trusting him to ride (to the line without attacking again).
"If I felt we’d have ridden up and over to the finish I’d have (worked) with him.
“But I didn’t trust that was going to happen and I felt as soon as I’d do a hard turn he’d (attack) me so I had no option.”
Topics
