Tim Barry battles forward in the sunshine up the climbs in Donegal last year; he's one of a numner of Irish riders who can do well in the week ahead
On the eve of the An Post Rás, we profile 15 Irish riders that we feel can make an impact in the week ahead. The list is not exhaustive, there are obviously other Irish riders who can do very well in the race, but these are the names that caught our eye more than others.
Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport)
The Belfast rider had a very good year last year in his first season riding in the pro ranks for IG Sigma Sport when he took a hat full of wins on home roads, including a stage in the Tour of the North and the Des Hanlon. He also made the podium in the British Premier Calendar and has been in the top ten in the opening two races of that series so far this year. He was in the top 10 on five stages of last year’s Rás before finishing 13th overall. His main priority for the week ahead will be a stage win, but he can both climb and sprint, and with a strong team may well make an impact on the overall.
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Connor McConvey (Synergy Baku)
Another man from Belfast, he is a fantastic climber and is a very strong all round rider. He has a very good record in the Rás, taking 4th overall in 2010 and the U23 classification and 7th overall last year. In last year’s race he climbed the best of the Irish riders and was at the very head of the race going up Mamore Gap in Co Donegal. Having changed team since then from An Post, he can challenge for stage and overall honours and is perhaps Ireland’s best bet for outright overall victory.
Sean Lacey (Aquablue)
The college lecturer is one of the most professional and dedicated riders on the home scene and though he combines his cycling with a full time job, not to mention running his own business, he has been one of the very strongest riders on the home scene for years. While it is increasingly hard for county riders to make in impact on the Rás, this is one rider we feel is very capable of making an impact on individual stages, especially if he sniffs out the right moves and gets a bit of luck. He has already won several races this year including the Lacey Cup, Des Hanlon and Rás Luimi.
Ryan Sherlock (Polygon Sweet Nice)
Like Lacey, the Monaghan man has been one of the very strongest riders in Ireland in recent years, having been a late convert from MTB where he won a string of national titles. On the road he is the current national hill climb champion and as well as his talent climbing he is very strong on the flat and an excellent tester. He was one of the very strongest Irish riders in the Rás last year before finishing 17th overall. He has since upgraded to the Polygon Sweet Nice UCI Continental team. Having raced abroad so far this year his form is unknown but he already has tough stage races like the Tour of Azerbaijan and Tour of Taiwan in his legs. He has been hit with illness of late but if he has recovered he can do an awful lot of damage.
Sam Bennett (An Post-Chainreaction)
Having had a fantastic end of season last year where he bagged 10th place in the U23 World Championships – following his 5th in the Europeans – Bennett has since undergone surgery on his knees. And while he has been riding well in Europe he would have liked to have had a more results-packed start to the year. Having said that, he is the best sprinter in the country and is the most likely of the Irish in the field to take a stage win, having already won one in 2009 and come very close on a couple of occasions last year. Bennett has the ability to crack on and get a big pro contract. But he needs some big results, including some wins in UCI races, this year. Next week is as good a place as any to start. We think he’ll win at least one stage.
Tim Barry (Aquablue)
Barry’s name crops up so often in race reports when young riders praise him for his coaching skills or other older riders credit some of their success to his mentoring that it’s easy to forget he’s still a first class rider in his own right. He won a stage in Rás Mumhan and the Tour of Ulster this year and also took the Visit Nenagh Classic. Having ridden the race on the Irish team in the past, he is capable of getting up the road and with a bit of luck could very much fly the flag for the Irish county riders in this year’s race. He’s a model for the county rider award on any stage and is well worth keeping an eye on.
Conor Dunne (Tipperary)
The U23 international is the U23 national TT champion and has been based in Belgium in recent years riding for VL Technics-Abutriek. He rides the Rás with Tipperary-Carrick Wheelers. He rode well in the recent U23 Nations Cup races and having rarely raced on Irish roads – he grew up in England – he could do with a good ride next week to really establish himself as the top rider in the current crop of U23s, along with Ryan Mullen. He claimed a victory in Belgium last year and has enjoyed some good results to date in 2013. He will be looking to go clear in some breakaways to show what he can do.
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Ronan McLaughlin (An Post-Chainreaction)
Like team mate Sam Bennett, the Donegal man had a very good season last year, underlined by the fact when there was one berth left in the Irish team for the World Championships after Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche were selected it deservedly went to McLaughlin. However, also like Bennett, he has had a quiet enough campaign so far this year. Having said that, he is one of the very strongest and most experienced riders Ireland has and is capable of winning a stage and also winning the race outright if the cards fell his way on some of the key stages. He put in perhaps the ride of the week in the Rás last year when he was away for almost an entire stage on his own – into Bundoran – before being overhauled within touching distance of the line. He would dearly love to put that right this year.
Aaron Buggle (Rapha Condor JLT)
Buggle has shown great in character in recent years, overcoming injury in the early part of his career only to return last year, base himself in France, re-establish himself as an U23 international before being offered a contract with his Continental ranked UK-based team. He had been riding really well in the early part of the season in Australia back in January before a bad crash in the Herald Sun Tour forced a prolonged lay off. He has been occupied with team duties in some of the recent big races he has ridden but said he was happy with his form in last weekend’s Lincoln GP and will be gunning for a big ride next week. He was very aggressive in the race last year, pulling clear in a number of dangerous breakaways, and is a banker to be in the mix on at least some of this year’s stages.
Mark Dowling (Polygon Sweet Nice)
The Meath man has a lot of raw talent and is known for his climbing ability. He climbed with the best of them, riding in his club colours of DID Dunboyne, when the race hit Donegal last year. He has had a big winter in Lanzarote and has progressed to the Continental ranked team Polygon Sweet Nice. Like his team mate Ryan Sherlock he has recently been ill and hopefully he has shaken that off. Also like Sherlock, he has raced mainly abroad this year, though did win the Newbridge GP early in the season. When the road goes up, Dowling should be there or thereabouts and has won a good few races in his career so knows how to convert his chances.
Roger Aiken (Louth)
One of only four Irish former stage winners in the race this year – Sam Bennett, Stephen O’Sullivan and Mehall Fitzgerald being the others – Aiken is a motorbike when he is on form. He is perhaps best known for his cyclocross exploits in recent seasons but has clearly focussed more on the road this year. He was one of the main animators of the recent Tour of Ulster, taking the opening stage in convincing fashion when he won all of the climbs on the stage. Aiken is one of the more modest riders in the peloton but don’t let that fool you. He’s hugely strong, knows how to ride Rás stages and knows how to win at this level. This is one rider we’ll be watching with great interest in the next week to see what he can do.
Sean Downey (An Post-Chainreaction)
The former Banbridge CC rider was 11th in the Rás two years ago when riding on the French amateur scene. Since then he has gained a place with An Post-Sean Kelly and with a full season at that level under his belt now from last year, he appears to have really found his feet, taking fifth in the Tour of Wallonie in Belgium a few weeks back; a race with a quality field that counted plenty of climbs on the course. Downey had a quieter Rás last year when he was bound by team duties. But his recent form has been better than the other Irish riders on the team. The nightmare scenario for him, Bennett and McLaughlin is to get painted it a corner riding for a yellow jersey within the team. Obviously it is their home race and backed by their title sponsor so the team performance must come first. But let’s hope Downey gets a chance somewhere along the way to ride for a result of his own; he always had the ability and now he seems to have the experience and form.
Chris Reilly (Meath – Stamullen Martin Donnelly)
Reilly is a very experienced rider and is a grinder, in the best sense of the word. He seems to have improved gradually over the years and barely a week goes by when he is not in the escape and in the placings on home roads. A recent win in Stamullen underlines his form at present and will have benefitted his confidence. He was up the road a couple of times in the Rás last year and we feel he’s a below the radar man who may pop up in the mix when many are perhaps not expecting it. A modest man like Roger Aiken, Reilly is strong enough to be right up there on a few stages so let’s see what happens.
Damian Shaw (Aquablue)
The Mullingar man has an engine that would be the envy of most riders and his move from Mullingar Lakeside to Aquablue during the winter seems to have been the making of him this season. He’s already won a number of races, including the opening stage and overall win in Kerry Group Rás Mumhan. Tim Barry was instrumental in that win, keeping Shaw calm when things appeared to be going away from him and dropping out of the escape on the final stage to help close the gap up to that break and ensure Shaw won the race. His was always a massive talent but one that needed more direction, and with the likes of Barry and Sean Lacey in his corner now he will have all the expert advice and experience he needs to call on in the coming week. He just needs the legs now, and when called on he usually has a few answers. It would be very interesting to see how far his raw strength will carry him if he got up the road on a hard stage in a move that lasted long enough to give him a fighting chance of a stage result. Like all of those on this list, he will definitely be there or thereabouts for the county rider stage awards.
Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne)
The U23 rider has had a great early season taking a string of victories – the Brendan Carroll Memorial, Harry Reynolds and Cicli Sport GP, amongst others - after training last winter with former team mate Mark Dowling in Lanzarote. Like the rest of the home riders, what will hold him back a little in the Rás is his lack of international racing this year. However, his riding so far in 2013, where he has animated the races he has won, has been much stronger than anything he has done before, underlining that he is a young rider on the up. We feel he is capable of getting up the road in the week ahead and a county ride stage award would be a great result from a rider we are going to see a lot more of.
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