Peter Hawkins was riding the Tour of Britain this time last year, but didn't have a national criterium title to his name. Pictured here by Toby Watson winning the championships at Mondello Park, Co Kildare, last Thursday.
By Gerard Cromwell
Peter Hawkins made up for the disappointment of not being selected for the Tour of Britain by notching up his second national criterium championship win in Mondello Park last Thursday.
“I've a bit of a gap in my race program so I decided to come home about three weeks ago,” said the British based Madison Genesis rider.
“The criterium nationals was a good chance to take a jersey and gave me something to aim for.
“At this time of the year if you don't have something to aim for it can be very easy to just give up so it was good to have that to focus on.”
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Hawkins on his way to the national criterium title last week; his non-selection for the Tour of Britain eased by his nationals gold (Photo: Toby Watson)
The Belfast man was aggressive throughout the race, eventually storming clear with Aquablue strongman Damien Shaw with two laps to go before beating him in the final sprint to take his second shamrock road jersey.
“I went into it with the plan to make the race as hard as possible,” said Hawkins.
“I knew if it had been an easier race there would have been a lot of guys still in contention at the end.
"Everybody would still be fresh if it wasn’t hard and I thought there was a chance I might have been beaten in the sprint.
“I knew that if I made it hard I’d hopefully finish with more left in the tank than most of the guys around me.”
Hawkins beat some very strong riders to take the title; here Zippy Doyle leads Damien Shaw, Hawkins and Sean McKenna (Photo: Toby Watson)
Although Hawkins eventually escaped with Shaw, it took a long time for that final winning move to come to fruition.
“There were a lot of guys trying to do the same thing so it did end up being quite a tough race and it took a while to split up.
“There were a lot of people coming and going but as the race went on the gaps started to open a bit.
“I could see people getting tired in the last 20 minutes or so but it was only with two laps to go that Damien and I clipped off.
“I’d been in another group of riders before that and Damien came up. Just as he made the bridge, that’s when we went and we just rode the last two laps together.”
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Hawkins, then an IG Sigma Sport rider, in the escape on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain last year (Photo: Larry Hickmott www.velouk.net)
With two very strong riders out front, the only question remaining was who would win the sprint to the line.
“I had a feeling throughout the whole race that Damien would be a good guy to go away with because he has a massive engine and works hard.
“I also thought I might be able to take him in the sprint if he didn’t attack me.”
Hawkin’s victory came just days before his Madison Genesis squad line up against some of the world’s top teams at the Tour of Britain, but a disappointing summer means he will not ride the race this year.
On the podium at Tour of Britain 2013 receiving his most aggressive rider award during what was a great race for him (Photo: Larry Hickmott www.velouk.net)
“My form wasn’t great during the summer,” he admits of his non selection.
“I’d a good early season but had quite a bad crash during one of the British Premier races before the Rás. Then I got the gastric bug that was going around in the Rás and had to pull out.
“After that I got back racing and was feeling okay about three weeks later but was never the same as I was before.
“I trained a lot for the Commonwealth Games and there were other guys on the team going well so I supported them in races.
“Soon two months had gone by and I hadn't got a result. The team is very strong in depth so I can't complain about not being picked. It’s disappointing, but just one of those things.”
Although he is yet to decide on where his future lies, Hawkins has only good words for the Madison Genesis squad.
“The team’s been very good. The structure is good and it’s very professionally run. I’ve got no complaints.
"There’s more strength in depth than Sigma had so I haven't been the protected rider as much as last year but that's just part and parcel of being on a good team.
“It would be great to have the Irish champion’s jersey for the crits in the UK next year. The crits are quite a big focus for a lot of the teams so it would be cool to wear the jersey in the Tour Series over there.”
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