Ali Macaulay battling up Coomanaspic in Co Kerry last Sunday. He said he would have relished a harder final day for his team to try and win the race (Photo: Pat Doherty)
By Brian Canty
Ali Macaulay hit a new peak in his career when he took an excellent third overall at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan last weekend.
The Team ASEA man has been flying under the radar this season but emerged as one of the form riders with a fine result on Sunday’s stage to Waterville, won by teammate Bryan McCrystal.
Third on the day put him to within 22 seconds of the yellow jersey but he would climb no higher, despite a concerted effort on the final day.
“To get third overall was better than expected,” he said.
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“If someone had said I’d be walking away with it last Friday I’d have take their arm off.
“I knew I was capable of it and more after a good winter. I’ve just started doing high end stuff so to get a podium on general classification was good.”
Ali Macaulay (Team ASEA) taking one of his best ever results on Easter Sunday at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan; sprinting to third on the stage ahead of Ryan Sherlock, left, and Grant Ferguson of the Scottish National team (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Undoubtedly, it was that performance on day three which gave him most satisfaction.
“I was delighted with that stage,” he continued.
“It was a fast start and the crosswinds made it difficult.
“Bryan and Damien were in the break that got stopped (when the race went the wrong way - Ed) so I was just sitting out of the wind as much as I could.
“When Bryan went again it was a case of covering moves but on the climb of Coomanaspic the fireworks started.
McPodium: The podium on the queen stage; McCrystal 1st, McKenna 2nd and Macaulay 3rd. It would also prove the final general classification podium, albeit with McCrystal and McKenna switching places.
“Then on the run-in for Waterville there were 10 in our group and we picked up Mark Dowling and two Dutch lads, with McKenna and McCrystal up ahead.
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“I had a go off the front with about 12 kilometres to go but that was closed down.
“But I tried again, got away and Ryan Sherlock jumped across and we got to work.
“To be fair to Ryan he’s probably the best man to be away with; he’s an honest rider.
“We rode as hard as we could and we picked up Grant Ferguson (Scotland National Team); he was seeing stars so couldn’t do anything.
In the colours of his former club Phoenix CC during last year's Rás before joining Team ASEA (Photo: George Doyle)
“We rode to the line as hard as we could and I took it by a whisker, so to get a stage win through Bryan and third through me, and to get up on GC as well was brilliant.”
That left Team ASEA with four riders within 52 seconds of the yellow jersey starting the final stage and Macaulay was adamant they’d win.
Roger Aiken and Shaw were the others within touching distance of the jersey.
“We thought we could win it for sure,” he said of going into the final stage.
Taking the sprint for 5th in the Wallace Caldwell Memorial last month (Photo: David McVeigh, The Belgian Project)
“We wanted to take the jersey, even though we knew it’d be hard because the Irish team was so strong.
“Martyn Irvine was closing everything and it was difficult, but they had the likes of Casso (Colm Cassidy) as well. Sean McKenna had a lot of help, which was fair enough.
“We tried our best but it was far too fast to get away.
“What needed to happen was a harder last day – stick it up Coomanaspic again!”
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