Mark Scanlon, resplendent in the Irish national champion's jersey, on the cobbles during his time with French team Ag2r Prevoyance. He would walk away from the sport at the age of 26.
By Brian Canty
When Mark Scanlon won the World Junior Road Race Championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands, in 1998 the field contained future Grand Tour stage winners and world champions.
Four-time Paris Roubaix winner Tom Boonen and four-time world TT champion Fabian Cancellara were racing that day.
So too were Geert Steegmans, Yaroslav Popovych, Danielle Bennati, Michael Albasini, and Allan Davis. Boonen and Frank Schleck were amongst the non-finishers.
Nobody in the race could match Sligo man Scanlon at the end of a gruelling 120-kilometre test on a wretched afternoon.
Newry man Barry Monaghan was the Irish manager on the day.
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And along with masseur John Pepper, directeur sportive Richie Beattie and mechanic John Keegan, they travelled in expectation, as opposed to hope.
“There was no plan B in Valkenburg; plan A was Scanlon was going to win and that was it. I had no doubt in my head he would.
“You needed to avoid all the bad luck like punctures and crashes.
"But the reason I was so confident was because when we arrived in Belgium to pick him up after a block of racing before the Worlds he had lost 3 or 4 kilos and when I saw him I said ‘he’s going to win’.”
A year previous in San Sebastien, Scanlon finished 30th while Derek Finnegan from Dundalk was 29th.
Because of that result, Scanlon, along with the top Irish juniors rode all the senior races after being given a dispensation by Cycling Ireland.
Monaghan, who managed that team in San Sebastien as well, knew Scanlon had what it took to win a year later and wasn’t at all surprised when he won so frequently at home throughout 1998.
A former international rider himself, Newry Wheeler Barry Monaghan helped Mark Scanlon to his world title win.
“He was the best in the country that year without a shadow of a doubt,” said Monaghan.
“Dave Kenneally, Stephen Gallagher, Dermot Nally and Shane Prendergast were the others in the team but Scanlon was the best.
“He went to the Junior Tour and blitzed everyone.
“I think he won three stages that year and was even on another level to Bradley Wiggins and Yanto Barker, two of the best in the UK at the time.”
The team sent to the World Championships had raced together all year, from the Junior Tour to a crucial spell in Belgium before the World Championships.
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“We picked the team for the Junior Tour and the World Championships in early August," continued Monaghan.
“The morale all year had been good between the five and they’d built of up good camaraderie.
“Scanlon won the Junior Tour but the Worlds were four weeks away so we fixed them up in Belgium for three weeks.
“We weren’t in salaried positions at the time so they had to look after themselves.
“They raced for three weeks there; did a mega amount of training.
"And they were together right up until the end of October when the Worlds were on.”
Scanlon winning the junior world title from Filippo Pozzatto of Italy and Eduard Kivichev of Russia, who is out of shot.
The field on that dreadful day in the Netherlands featured some of the best riders of this or any generation.
But Monaghan wasn’t worried, for those names weren’t yet the names they’ve become.
“Scanlon was always a big guy but come race day he was looking exceptional.
“He always had good skill and was a good race reader but he was in outstanding shape.
“The race, as always, is a whittling down process but he was always there where he needed to be.
“The weather was terrible but he looked after himself and to be fair to the others in the team, they were there too.
"And when we came into the last lap we had three in the front (the others being Nally and Gallagher).”
A bunch of around 40 contested the sprint, though no one had the reserves Scanlon had.
“We were in the pits watching it on a TV set up by the Norwegian team and it was just absolutely incredible to see him win.
“Up until then we’d only had (Stephen) Roche and (Harry) Reynolds who won world titles so for a small nation with zero budget to win it was amazing.
“I still look back on it as one of the best days for me in cycling. It’s a standout day in my life.”
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