Mark Dowling climbs towards the finish in Taiwan, after an awful run of bad luck and asthma complications.
A man whose talent and versatility is summed by up the fact he is the reigning Irish champion in both the hill climb and the criterium disciplines, Mark Dowling endured a very challenging Taiwan KOM Challenge.
The event, which took place last weekend, features 87 kilometres of uphill on the way to the summit at Mount Hehuan at almost 3,300 metres.
The first prize in the men’s race is a whopping €29,000, with that fund and the sheer novelty and difficulty of the event always attracting a smattering of pro riders, including those from the WorldTour.
Dowling would finish 16th but suffered major setbacks on the day and as he prepared for the race.
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“I'd say I had it nearly right with regards to my weight being down by a kilo and my power being slightly above last year; my training has been more endurance (based)” he told stickybottle.
“I race in Ireland at about 59 kilos but go to 58 for a foreign race. For Taiwan I was down to 57 or just below .
“The power doesn't drop with the weight loss and I've been making constant improvements in tests so I guess it’s on the right track.”
Dowling, right, battles to get going again after rocks and debris on the road cause chaos.
Having finished 10th and 3rd in the last two editions of the race, he was tipped by many – including sections of the international media – to threaten for victory but ultimately came up short after a conspiracy of circumstance.
“Things don't always go to plan,” he said. “So I'll put it down to another massive effort that resulted in failure and use it as motivation as I have every other time.
“I won't lose sleep over it this time; it's just a bike race. I wasn't there looking for some kind of pro contract or anything like that.”
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Of the race itself, Dowling suffered two mechanicals and had to stop at the site of crash where a rock fall had left debris across the road, pictured.
“The road was damaged in many sections from landslides,” he said. “A Kiwi guy sent me down but that's just racing.
“I had a hard ride to get back then had to stop another two times to fix the bike. But at the end of the day it just wasn't to be.”
The race is run on a mountain road cut from the rock face, and includes a wide range of riders from WorldTour pros hunt the top prize to leisure cyclists just looking to complete the course.
Spanish rider Oscar Puyol of Team UKYO won in a time of 3 hours 29 minutes with Jai Hindley (Attaque Team Gusto Cycling) second some five seconds back.
Another Australian, Ben Dyball, rounded out the podium in third a further 13 seconds back. John Ebsen of Denmark, who has won the race in the past, was fifth.
While clearly hampered on the day, Dowling was also beset with issues in the build up.
And those problems began with a very bad asthma attack at the end of his title-winning ride at the National Hill Climb Championships in Co Wexford two weeks ago.
That left him with damage to his kidneys which meant he was unable to even haul his luggage around on the way to Taiwan.
Instead his father Mick, the former international boxer and now RTE commentator, stepped in to literally give him a helping hand.
And Dowling Jnr also crashed in the build-up with the medical diagnosis that he may have broken a bone in his injured shoulder.
And in the final hour of the event his breathing problems flared up again, though he said he was determined to at least push through and finish.
He knew he had young nephews and nieces back home watching his progress and didn’t want to disappoint them.
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