Mark Dowling on the front of the chase group around Killorglin today, riding to the biggest win of his career since converting from triathlon (Photo: Pat Doherty)
By Brian Canty
Winner of the 2014 Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, Mark Dowling said his victory today brought him as much relief as joy after years of trying to get on the top step of the podium.
The DID Dunboyne man wore the yellow jersey in 2012 when he won a fabulous summit finish on the Conor Pass. But despite having an army of teammates around him the following day, he would puncture coming off Valentia Island and lose the jersey.
He told stickybottle less than two weeks ago he was expecting a "beating" over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend because he felt so poorly on the bike due to low iron levels in his blood of late.
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But on the strength of his ride this weekend he appears to have put that behind him.
“It’s more relief rather than joy at this stage, to get the result I felt I was always capable of,” he said afterwards, resplendent in the yellow jersey.
“I’ve been so close to the yellow jersey before. I got a puncture maybe two years ago at a bad time and now I feel luck was on my side and I feel I got what I deserved in the end.”
Indeed, Dowling made all the right moves; getting in the breaks Saturday and yesterday, while also shaking off the most dogged of competitors in Paddy Clarke today.
And with Clarke there were also at least half a dozen others who had their eyes on the big prize.
“I had to work from day one,” he explained.
“I got in the breakaway on Saturday but I was really struggling at 75k to go and couldn’t contribute to the move at all. I just struggled, struggled, struggled but I brought myself up on general classification.
“Yesterday when I got into the move I knew then I was riding definitely to get myself up on GC and I committed myself 100 per cent to the break; got the time bit by bit.
“I came into today in joint first but all the pressure was on Paddy Clarke and his team. Eugene (Moriarty) and Sully (Stephen O’Sullivan) and the boys in the team told me to just sit tight and let the Liquidworx-Fitscience boys do the riding.
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“And when we hit the circuit I was to go attacking hard. In the end the Dutch boys (West Frisia) really put the pressure on and I didn’t have to do any attacking, just follow those guys. I had 20 seconds on third-placed (Sjors) Dekker so once I kept a close eye on him I had the jersey.
“I knew all I needed was a second to take the jersey off Paddy but it’s an awful lot tougher than it sounds. His team rode incredibly strong for the first half of the race – which I knew they would.
“But the lads in my team just told me to bide my time and wait until later in the race to make my move.
“I could see Paddy was losing men because they were getting tired from having to chase so many others and I knew one good attack would see me get away.
“So I waited and waited and on the drag just after we turn left at the top of the town I attacked and managed to get a gap and took a few more with me.
“At that point it was all or nothing. If I was brought back or faded I knew I’d be swamped by the bunch behind because I knew there were plenty guys who fancied the stage win."
Like father, like son: Mark Dowling with his father Mick, the former international champion boxer and well known RTE commentator after junior took one of the biggest prizes in Irish cycling today (Pat Doherty)
Dowling said he was delighted with the level of cooperation in the group.
“We kept going, everyone in my group (of eight) rode hard because they wanted to stay away as well but the gap never went above 20 seconds to the peloton.
“But with two laps to go (six kilometres) I felt I had it in the bag, barring a major disaster like a crash. So to ride up the town and seeing the crowds and my parents there was just magic.
“I’m so over the moon but I do feel for Paddy, he rode so well all weekend and was in every move that mattered. It’s been a long time coming for me though and in this race you need as much luck as you do legs and thankfully I had both.
“So with about two laps to go I started to feel I had it in the bag and I started to think ‘I can’t believe I’m after winning Rás Mumhan’.
“I was only concerned with Dekker and his 20 seconds and if he attacked I knew I could close him down. But I looked over my shoulder once and I could see the bunch was closing.
“And if they made contact it was game over for me because we’d be back level on time. So with about three kilometres to go I just got on the front and rode as hard as I could to make sure they wouldn’t make contact with us. I was just lucky enough I stayed away.”
Dowling waited until the finishing circuit and put his back into attacking as hard as he could; a tactic that paid handsome dividends (Photo: Pat Doherty)
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