Dylan Foley found it tough going in Florence today, Saturday; his effort not aided by bad luck at the worst possible time (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Ireland’s Dylan Foley has said while he was disappointed not to finish his junior event at the World Road Race Championships in Italy this morning, Saturday, he felt he had taken a lot from the experience.
The Nicolas Roche Performance Team man riding with Ireland in Florence was the first of the three-man Irish team to get into difficulty on the climbs on the course after being unfortunate to have a mechanical in the early stages.
He only regained contact with the bunch as it was entering Florence for the first of five passages of the 16.6km finishing circuit and was in the red when the race hit the two climbs for the first time.
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“The first 60km was alright,” he said of racing into Florence before the riders reached the circuit.
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“We were all in decent enough positions, there was a few crashes but I suppose you would expect that. Then just coming into Florence there was a crash and my chain dropped and I couldn’t get it back on initially. I got back on through the cars; it was lined out at that stage.”
“It was really fast as I got back on and it stayed lined out so I couldn’t move up as the bunch went really fast into the bottom of the climb. I knew I would have to move up very quickly. Once we started the climb there was a big crash around 200 metres into it and of course because I was towards the back I got caught up behind that. I had to chase back on to the bunch, it was starting to split at that stage.”
“I got back on on the section where the climb evened out a little bit but I’d blown my lights trying to get back on… I was a bit disappointed with that.”
“After that I just rode my own pace and caught up with Mark (Downey). It was blown to bits, groups everywhere and a lot of riders were continuing to ride around. But then they started pulling groups out and we got pulled after a while. It was a learning experience at the end of the day.”
Foley said while the experience was a tough one and he felt he was unfortunate in being forced to try so hard coming to the climb for the first time, he was not overawed by the occasion.
“The first 60k was not anything major, like. My legs were there, it was fast but we were well capable of it. Then I had the bit of bad luck; having to chase back on took a lot out of me. I was pushing into the red before the climb even started. That’s racing. You live and you learn. I know the level I need to be at, the areas I need to work on.”
Foley believed many of the riders in the field were competing at a much higher level every week than the Irish.
“The experience the foreign guys have is huge. We were in awe of the climb and to them; they were used to it. It’s nothing major to them. But you have to start somewhere to go up in the sport.”
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