Seen here leading Conor Murphy of Eurocycles in Carlingford yesterday, An Post-Chainreaction's Jack Wislon took the U23 title and in the past 18 months he has started to look like the real deal (Photo: Adrian O'Connor - www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
Around two minutes after Matt Brammeier had sprinted to a fourth consecutive elite road race title in Carlingford yesterday, three riders came into the final kilometre knowing that they would not just be sprinting for 13th place in the elite race but also the Irish U23 national title.
At the finish, 19-year old Jack Wilson took the shamrock jersey for Sean Kelly’s An Post squad, narrowly beating Cormac Clarke of Newry and Belgian-based Conor Dunne of IV Tekniks in the hotly contested three-man sprint.
“Conor Dunne was up the road coming over the hills on the back of the circuit, halfway through the second last lap,” said Wilson afterwards.
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“Up the road, it looked as if they were attacking a lot and when we turned around into the headwind I think he just blew his lights and he came back to us. There was him and Cormac Clarke in our bunch and I knew it didn’t matter who else went up the road, I just needed to watch them.”
“I just played my cards right, tried not to get stuck on the front or do too much on the last lap. I didn’t think I was going to get around Cormac in the sprint. I was slightly under geared but his legs were tying up. Mine just didn’t tie up as quickly as his.”
Although the course had been described as flat by most observers, Wilson soon found out, like many others, that there were plenty of energy-sapping rolling hills around the back of the circuit.
“Everyone was saying it was flat and it would be suited to a bunch sprint. No chance. After seven or eight laps it just started getting into you, over the back, on the wee hills. It was a tailwind there so it was really fast and then we had a headwind on the flat main road heading towards Carlingford, which was just savage. It was 30kph and we were going full gas. It was hard.”
While many, including bronze medallist Dunne, followed the early moves and expended plenty of energy at the front in the first half of the race, Wilson bided his time. With his team mates Sean Downey and Sam Bennett both abandoning the race later on however, Wilson and Ronan McLaughlin were the only cards the postmen had left to play.
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“I wasn’t worried about the break going so early because I was concentrating more on the under 23s but I’d say it would have been a hard circuit to stay away with just a few guys. I haven’t talked to him yet but I think Sam maybe blew his lights going across and did a bit too much work.”
“After five or six laps, there was a group up the road around the back on one of the climbs. Then, just before we turned back into the headwind, another group of about 10 got away and I thought it looked pretty dangerous and tried to jump across to it.”
“I was about ten metres off the back as we turned into the headwind and I just couldn’t close those extra ten metres. I was lucky Ronan McLaughlin was in the group. He looked around, saw me coming across and dropped back a couple of bike lengths and just gave me that little bit extra tow up to them. I wouldn’t have made the break if it wasn’t for him.”
Wilson surprised even himself by taking the U23 crown as he had been sick earlier in the week and the Jordanstown youngster wasn’t sure whether he would even be able to start.
“I flew home from Belgium on Tuesday and on Wednesday night I started getting a really sore head. My nose was all blocked and I had a sore throat. On Thursday morning I was coughing up a load of green stuff so I’ve been taking it easy the last couple of days and it paid off.”
“I hope to keep progressing now. I’m home for a couple of weeks because there’s a bit of a break in the program. I go back on the 5th of July and I’ll ride a kermesse or something and then ride Stad Geel in Belgium and the Europeans. After that we’re into August nearly, but I’m not too sure what’s after that for the team.”
Based in Belgium for most of the season with the An Post Chainreaction team, Wilson is impressed at the amount of up and coming talent in Ireland at the moment. He puts it down to the fact that there is now a series of development squads in place from underage level to junior and then the An Post squad at senior level to help riders progress through the ranks.
“It’s really strong now. Even the juniors, the first and second years are coming through. There’s an incredibly talented group coming through now. I think people aren’t getting waylaid into other things maybe.”
“They’re focusing on cycling rather than doing other things. The Nicolas Roche Team and the Talent Team 2020 are perfect for this. I wish I had that when I was an under 16. As long as they keep nurturing them and make sure they don’t find drink and women, they’ll be alright.”
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