Paddy Clarke (right) with Eoin McCarthy (Visit Nenagh) before disaster struck for the Mayo man yesterday (Photo: John McCarthy)
By Brian Canty
Paddy Clarke (Mayo Castlebar Fedaia Bikes) suffered cruel luck on the opening day at the An Post Rás yesterday with his hopes of a high placing overall all but shattered.
Clarke, who was third county rider last year clattered a pothole during the first half of yesterday’s stage to Longford and damaged his handlebars, forcing him to stop and concede over 18 minutes by day’s end.
He said while disgusted at the timing of the misfortune, he took the positives and stressed that there’s still plenty to play for.
“Yesterday was a bit of a disaster alright,” he sighed.
“I was going good. I was staying up around the front, doing my best to keep out of trouble. The first day of the Rás is just chaos, everyone trying to get up the front. And obviously you have to fight for your position and make sure you stay away from trouble.”
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“So I was staying up there, having no issues. It was very fast starting off - the average speed in the first two hours was 48k, very high. But I wasn’t having any issues at all, I was very comfortable.”
“Then I was on the left hand side of the bunch, behind a Sigma rider and there was maybe half a bike length between the two of us and he went straight into this pothole, blew out both his tyres.”
“It happened so quickly but I tried to bunny-hop over the hole. I obviously didn’t lift at the right time so I crashed right down on the hole and when I landed my handlebars shot straight downwards. I almost lost the bars because I hit it with such an impact– you can imagine the weight of me coming down on my bars.”
“Then, whatever way they twisted, it took the pressure off the bolts on the stem and the bolts started coming loose. I knew the pace was so high then that I didn’t want to stop, because if I did I knew I was gone for the day.”
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“So I kept going and I said if I kept going and got over the climb, I’d stop then. But with about 10k to go I knew it was a disaster and would turn nasty if I didn’t sort it so I had to pull over. I could literally turn the bars up and down! It was scary enough. It would have been game over if I didn’t stop.”
“So I had to pull over. I got them tightened up pretty rapidly, one of the cars pulled up beside me and one of the lads got out the window and we put a tighten on them and straightened the hoods as well. I don’t know who it was – thanks to them if they’re reading this.”
“So I got going again, in behind the Usher car – they were great and brought me up the cavalcade. I hopped the next car and got in behind the doctors car but his car was very hard to get by because they have him second in line behind the commissaire, way behind him. And I was with a Baku rider who punctured the same time as I stopped.”
“We couldn’t get by the doctors car though, he was leaving a huge gap to the comm and he was leaving a huge gap to the bunch. So the jump to the bunch was literally flat out and when I got there I was in the red.”
“At this point it was lined out, I was in there, going okay getting up through it but there’s so little rest. And my legs just weren’t responding at that point. I could see the race up ahead splitting up and my heart was breaking. I tried to keep going but you know when that happens there’s nothing you can do.”
He said his race starts today and he’ll adopt the same approach he always does. Be aggressive.
“I was really looking forward to having a good GC but that’s the Rás, that’s what happens. I could have been lying underneath a motorbike like my brother Ciarán last year, so I’ll look on the bright side. I made it out with no scratches or scars. You have to look at the positive side all the time.”
“I’ll give it socks now; 20 minutes is a big loss but there’s so many other things to race for, individual things, county prizes. I’ll go with that attitude and see what happens."
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