Mark Dowling: "I had best legs I've ever had but made a mess of it"
Mark Dowling takes 4th on the final stage of the Rás. While he was one of the best up Mamore Gap, he was not pleased with his race overall so went up the road today (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
By Brian Canty
Mark Dowling has said he’s gutted not to have won today’s final stage of the An Post Rás after putting himself in a great position to do so.
The Cork-Strata3/VeloRevolution man went clear in a five-man move late on and they would stay away to contest the stage.
But even though he reckons he had the legs for better, fourth was the best he could do.
Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (An Post Chain Reaction) won from Jerome Mainard of the French Armée de Terre team and Sam Jenner of the Australian national team.
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Fifth was Wednesday’s stage winner in Buncrana Michael Storer from Australia.
“I knew I had to try and redeem myself after a terrible Rás," said Dowling.
"It was made more terrible by the fact I had the best legs I ever had and made a mess of everything.
“I knew I had to do something and as usual I missed the break, missed the group of 24 that got away but I still had really good legs and felt fresh.”
Mark Dowling gets his county rider prize on the podium in Skerries (Photo: Inpho)
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So fresh was he, in fact, that he jumped clear on the steep section of the Bellewstown climb and proceded to make his way across to the break which was splintering badly at that point.
And when he got across he just went again, with only four more able to go.
“Half of me was thinking ‘this is my effort done and dusted’ but as soon as the bunch caught us I went for it up the climb and got away with two Australians (Storer and Jenner), a Post guy (Kasperkiewicz) and a French army guy (Mainard).
“Every single one of us had to ride completely flat out.
“I knew if I was trading with those guys I’d be using up matches but I felt really good.
“Also, we had to ride because if we started sitting on we wouldn’t have made it.
“We got stuck in and up the last time I thought I had the legs to go (solo) but we still had 9k to go and the bunch was at 30 seconds so I stayed there.
“I thought about taking a flyer like I usually do but for some reason I just bottled it because there was two Aussies there and they’d co-operate to bring me back so in a split second I decided to sprint.
“But judging on how the guys looked I thought I was the freshest.
“I don’t have the worst sprint in the world and feeling fresh and those guys tiring…
“I thought I might go for it in the sprint. I started fifth man but I just don’t have that out and out sprint power….
“I came from the back quite quickly and went for a gap on the right and got closed off and had to settle for fourth…
“So all in all I was bitterly disappointed, I had the legs to win for sure. I knew I had the legs at the start but I made so many stupid mistakes it was unbelievable.
“It’s the Ras where I had the best legs but the worst ride, if you can make sense of that.”
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