Ian Richardson on the way to the county rider prize and a huge time advantage on the rest of the county men in the Rás field on the road from Dunboyne to Carlow (Photo with thanks to David O’Sullivan)
By Shane Stokes
The An Post Rás may be only one day in, but already Ian Richardson has a great ride under his belt.
The UCD CC man was the only county rider to make the key breakaway today as the field raced from Dunboyne to Carlow on stage 1.
And when they were not caught, he took the county rider prize and also put over four minutes into the rest of the county men in the field.
While that gap can be wiped out very quickly, especially if the remaining stages are buffeted by crosswinds like today; it was something of a dream start for the Dubliner.
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“The plan was just to stay up the front and with the crosswinds being such a factor I had a feeling it would split,” he told stickybottle after receiving the applause of the Carlow crowd from the podium.
“In the first 15k or so, I got a sense that a lot of the teams were trying to let riders up the road. And by virtue of being up the front, the group just went.
“It was on a very narrow road with a very strong crosswind and we were 30 seconds up the road in no time.
Richardson has always been quality against the watch and a course like that in store for the Rás riders this week should be very much to his liking (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
“I looked around and saw I was the only county rider and from then on I just tried to conserve as much energy as possible and really focused on trying to do the best I could on the stage.
“Because I was the only amateur; I was able to play that card and get the professional teams to ride a bit more.”
The gap between breakaway and peloton would go over five minutes.
And by the time Richardson crossed the finish line in a group of 13, some 55 seconds down on stage winner Francesco Reda (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) and runner-up Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team), there was still 2:43 between the Dubliner’s group and a six-man chase group.
And 4:02 would elapse between Richardson finishing and the next best county man on the day, Marc Potts (North Down-Graham Powerhouse Sport).
Potts managed to get out of the bunch and finished in the fourth group on the road with 12 others, five of whom were county men; Bryan McCrystal (Louth-Team Asea), Robin Kelly (Mayo-Coleman Electronics), Sean McKenna (Cork-Aquablue), Sean Lacey (Cork Aquablue) and David Brennan (Mayo.ie).
It means in the county rider general classification, Richardson leads those six by 4:02, with the next closest David Watson (North Down-Graham Powerhouse Sport) at 7:42.
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While a number of departures have weakened the UCD team this year, there is still plenty of quality in the tight-knit group. Richardson (right) with Art MacManusa on last year's Rás (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Asked whether he was surprised the gap grew so large, Richardson said before the race started he did not anticipate the field splitting as it did.
“If you asked me if those gaps would happen at the start of the day, I probably would have said ‘no’. But being out there in the conditions; yes.
“The crosswinds were just such a massive factor today. A lot of people don’t know how to ride echelons because of inexperience.
“So it was bound to happen; that it would split and groups would go all over the place.”
He said the two men who took flight from the breakaway to fight for the win broke clear with around 30km remaining.
“It happened just after the second last prime of the day (at Clonegal); there was a bit of an uncategorised climb going into a tight corner,” he explained.
“And the two of them just jumped away at that point. There was a bit of hesitation by the rest of the group to chase. And we just never brought them back.”
Richardson said his training to date this year has been geared towards a Rás peak. He has already got a great return on that work and will look for more in coming days (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Richardson said while the two leaders pulled out a gap of over one minute, there was a concerted effort to limit the time loss and to try and catch them.
“Team 3M and the An Post team were really riding hard to try and bring the two up front back, but they really weren’t making any headway whatsoever.”
Asked if he was surprised to be going so well, Richardson said he had put a lot of effort into being in good condition for this time of year.
“I’ve always been training to peak for the Rás; that’s the way I trained last year and I’ve trained this year.
“So I had quite a good Rás last year and I was hoping to do a good bit better this year. And so far that’s been the case,” he laughed.
“I don’t know how far ahead I am of the rest of the county riders but I think it’s minutes; several minutes. So it looks good for the rest of the week.
“But I’m just not going to stress about general classification. I’m going to go out and treat every day like a one-day race and try and get another good stage result.”
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