Olan Barrett (Aquablue) and John Lynch (UCD CC) are second and third in line in yesterday's escape led by Stephen Halpin (Polygon Sweet Nice) on the way to Carlow on stage 6 of the An Post Rás (Photo: Adrian O'Connor - www.blackumbrellaphotography.com )
Recent debate as to whether the Rás in the professional era is simply too hard for the homegrown riders has been partly put to bed this week, with countless Irish riders putting in a very good account of themselves.
The Louth Prague Charter duo of Roger Aiken and yesterday’s first county rider Bryan McCrystal have ridden a great Rás thus far, with Aiken still right in the hunt for the overall win.
And while the two Irish yellow jerseys of Rás 2013 – Peter Hawkins and Conor Dunne – are full time on the international stage, a host of county men have had the confidence and the legs to get up the road this week.
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On yesterday’s stage 6, Olan Barrett (Aquablue) and John Lynch (UCD CC) were among those from the domestic scene who made their mark, putting in great rides to go clear in the day’s main breakaway.
Barrett lives in Fermoy, Co Cork, and said his knowledge of the roads yesterday helped him to get into the escape.
“There were a couple of moves going off the front and a small break of three up the road; I followed Stephen Halpin up the left of the bunch and he kept going,” he said.
“We got away and rode together to get across to the break and it was really hard going to get any sort of a gap. The roads were so wide open but once we turned right in Cahir it kind of opened up a bit and we tried to settle down. The crosswinds made it hard and the gap started coming back down. Unfortunately we lost Art (MacManusa) after 50km or so, I think he was sick.”
“We only had a 40 second gap in Urlingford and the lads had stopped riding so I attacked them to get the hot spot. There was only the American with me then until the Node4 Giordana guys come across and we waited for them.”
“They were absolutely flying. I sat at the back of them but I broke a few spokes after 90km. I knew then I was going to back in the bunch and after that it was fairly horrible because I got dropped up the first KOM.”
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He said the racing this week has been on a completely different level to anything he is used to on the domestic scene.
“In a race on a Sunday in Munster I could attack 20 times; follow everything and I’d be fine. But here you only have one or two goes and when you do and it doesn’t happen you’re suffering back in the bunch again. It’s a completely different race than normal, the pros are so strong."
Lynch, who started the escape that began after 15kms and lasted for most of the stage, thought he would have a go “for the craic” when the bunch stalled a little.
“There’s no point in sitting there for the day. I chanced my arm and attacked. I was hoping a few more would come over and the five of us got away, four Irish lads and an American. We just kept tipping through and thinking they might let us go seeing as we’re a good few places back (on general classification).”
“We got up to two and a half minutes and then it started coming down and the lads just wanted to get at the prime and they started sitting on and the time came down then. It’s nice to get up the road. It’s a great race. You might as well get up the road and do something.”
“I knew I probably wouldn’t get over the climbs so I thought if I got up the road, got a bit of a gap and get over the first couple of them before the bunch caught me I’d be happy. I paid for it on the third category later. Once they started going up I was gone. But I kept my own tempo and I only came in a few minutes down.”
The 33-year-old lives in Arklow, Co Wicklow. He works as a carpenter and will be straight back into work after this Rás.
“I’m shuttering on Monday, concrete work first thing so it’s hard going. I was lucky enough I had a few easy weeks there in work so I was able to get a bit of training done but I’ve been doing 12 hour days for the last two weeks. It’s hard to get anything done."
"I love coming to the Rás. This is my seventh or eighth one. You get looked after. You don’t have to do anything. All you have to do is say ‘there’s me bike lads I’ll see it in the morning’.”
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