Eoin Morton has ridden very well this season and has progressed hugely in just three years. He'd love selection onto an Irish team, if there were any (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)
By Gerard Cromwell
After an aggressive ride at the An Post Rás where he was among a handful of county riders to feature in prominent breakaways, Eoin Morton returned to the domestic scene with a bang yesterday by taking his second victory of the season at the Meath Grand Prix in Navan.
While he briefly exited the back door as Conor Murphy drove the lead group up the main climb on the final circuit, Morton clawed his way back up to front with just Murphy, Mark Dowling and Martin O’Loughlin for company.
“It was so hard,” he said of the race.
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“My hay fever gets really bad on days like this. Any time it gets up past 20 degrees I can’t breathe. I spent the whole race riding at a heart rate of about 180bpm. Even when I was sitting on the wheels I was tired.”
As usual on the long and winding 40km lap in Navan, the break went early with 10 riders going clear on the opening loop before a strong looking Murphy blew some of them out the back door each time up the climb.
“There was a good few of us away at the start but it got brought back,” said Morton.
“We went again, got brought back again but eventually we got eight or ten guys clear. We were tipping along nicely but Conor Murphy was trucking. I mean trucking.
"On the climb every lap he just gassed it and threw lads out the back every time. I was very lucky to get back on the third time. I was suffering a bit there. But once I got back on we just rode up and over. Everybody was very honest.”
With four riders of similar sprinting ability coming to the line, the result was never a foregone conclusion. But Morton just edged out Dowling for the win in the last few metres.
Winning the Ben McKenna Memorial back in March after escaping with team mate Greg Swinand (Photo: Amy Norah Farrell)
“I knew the finish suited me and Mark a bit more. Conor’s won there a good few times but Martin; I haven’t raced against him at all. So he was a bit of an unknown quantity.
"I’d say we were doing 2kph coming in the road because nobody wanted to start the sprint into the headwind. Everybody was on the brakes.
"Then the lads went and Conor opened it up; Dowling was on my wheel and came past me and it was only in the last 25metres I went around him again.
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"It’s a tricky finish and I knew from riding the race before that I didn’t want to be on the left hand side of the road because that’s where all the bumps are.
"I ended up there though and had to ride in every single pothole on the way up but I’m delighted to get the second win of the season.
"It’s my third win on this circuit. I won it as an A4 and then an A3 and now I’ve won here as an A1 so I’m delighted with that.”
Although he is only racing properly for three years, Morton has stepped up a level every year and was one of the few Irish riders able to match the foreign pros at the Rás.
“It was nice to be at the level this year,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s very many Irish lads at the level... you know, to be able to actually commit to the race and make the race.
"But definitely this year there were more guys able to compete like Damien Shaw, Mark Dowling, Bryan McCrystal, Roger Aiken, Sean Lacey and a few others.
"I think us Irish riders are not exactly the smartest guys in the world though. All of our Sunday races are like today, three hours in the break riding up and over, whereas you had the Italians in the Rás just sitting on and playing it smart.
"Your man Ballerini, who won the last stage, was up the road nearly every day but he just kept himself to himself and sat on loads. It’s that sort of intelligence that gets you a win though and he won a stage of the Rás and we didn’t.”
Although there were a handful or other Irish riders capable of putting it up to the foreigners this year, Morton feels an Irish national team is sorely missed from the race.
“It’s a shame that there’s not an Irish team in the Rás anymore so that we could all go into it as a team. I think Shaw would be very capable of riding it if he had a full team committed to riding with him.
"Obviously he had the strongest county team there in Aquablue but it still wasn’t as strong as an Irish national team would be.
"I know Damien and McCrystal have ridden with the Paralympics team, Lacey and Aiken have been on the Irish team, but there are a lot of domestic guys there now that could actually make an Irish team that could contend at the Rás.
"I think it's something Cycling Ireland needs to look at. Obviously it’s a bit selfish, but I’d love to get a ride on that team.”
While there was no Irish team on this year’s Rás, a national team selected from the best county riders at this year’s Rás was due to ride the French Kreiz Breizh Elite four day race in August. But there has been little mention of it since. Morton admits he hasn’t heard anything.
“The French contingent was talking to us on the Rás and from what I heard it was between us and Aquablue and they were doing it on points. I didn’t really get the whole idea, but I’d love if there was a team.
"I’d love to able to source a bit of time off from work and go to something like that. That’d be fantastic and I’d love to stick my name on that list if I possibly could.”
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