Mark Dowling blasts away on stage 6 of the Rás, never to be seen by the main field again (Photo: Toby Watson)
By Brian Canty
Mark Dowling took his best ever result in the An Post Rás last Friday when he finished fourth on the 160-kilometre sixth stage from Ballina to Ballinamore but said he was gutted not to have won.
The DID Electrical Dunboyne man forced his way into the 13-man break that stayed clear of the peloton for the entire day.
And though he targeted the climbers’ classification points to move himself right into contention for that jersey, he still had the legs to chase stage glory.
Alas, when fellow breakaway men Ian Bibby (NFTO), Damien Shaw (Team ASEA) and Ed Laverack (Condor JLT) escaped in the final 15 kilometres he saw his chances disappear out of sight.
Advertisement
“I’m disappointed because I definitely set out to go for a stage,” he said.
“And during the week I was trying from stage one to get into all the breaks, it just never worked.
“The ones I picked never stayed away so when I knew I wasn’t able to win I just saved energy and stayed in the groups I was in.
Dowling on his way to the county rider prize in last year's Rás up Seskin Hill. He could have landed the big one last week had he not put his chips on a dud gamble (Photo: Kay's Photography)
Dowling said when he looked at the stage profile and weather forecast for stage 6 he decided it was one where he could make a decisive move.
“I knew there’d be no luck involved in getting into the break; you’d have to force it and at 10k I rode hard to get into it.
“I got into the move and I rode hard all day, did a lot of work, felt good and wanted to make sure the move stayed away.
“I went for the KOMs just in case I could creep up on the jersey and I got two (of three) of those.
Related News
“That worked out and on the last climb I tried to take a long one because the group wasn’t co-operating.
“So I attacked and got away over the top but the racing kicked off quite hard and I got picked up on the descent and from then on it was stop-start.”
There followed a period of intense attacking but Dowling preferred to play it more safely.
Dowling in the winner's jersey at the recent Tour of Ulster. He won that by biding his time, but a similar effort to grab a Rás stage win backfired (Photo: Sportsfile)
He had deployed the same "less is more" tactic on the final stage of the Tour of Ulster earlier this month and the last stage of Kerry Group Rás Mumhan last year; keeping his powder very dry until the moment of maximum opportunity close to the end.
And on both occasions he took the races outright with late attacks his opponents were too tired to cope with. But this time, it simply wasn't to be.
“I knew I felt good, judging by how I was getting the KOMs and I knew I'd have the best acceleration,” he explained of his thinking if the stage was decided in a group sprint.
“So I figured I’d gamble and wait to take a flier at the end, very late. But when the three boys went I definitely could have gone
“I played it too cute and tried to let everyone do the work. I stopped riding and didn’t do any more turns in the last 15k. It was all going to plan. I was sure they’d be brought back but they stayed away.
“I did the move I’d planned and it turned out that would have worked,” he commented in reference to the fact he won the sprint for fourth place.
“So I was absolutely gutted because I had the legs to win the stage but the gamble didn’t pay off.”
Topics
