Neil Martin was a great rider in his day. He's worked with lots of top U23 riders, including the Irish. And he says success at U23 level can be overestimated in cycling. Martin also spoke to us during the Rás about Robert Jon McCarthy declaring for Ireland and the positive impact it has had on him. Above, Martin during the 1986 Milk Race (Photo: Phil O'Connor)
Neil Martin on U23 rank being overblown, McCarthy's rebirth
By Shane Stokes
Speaking after Robert-Jon McCarthy’s superb stage 2 sprint win at the Rás Tailteann, Ireland team manager Neil Martin was clear about what he felt was the big reason why the rider is back enjoying the sport: making a crucial decision about his nationality.
“I will be honest with you – and he will back me up – I identified the problem, I think, in that he was lost nationality-wise,” Martin told stickybottle.
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“I said to him, ‘you are not an Australian. You are still Irish, and you lost a little bit identity-wise.’ And he agreed.”
The problem, according to Martin, was the frustrations McCarthy was facing in trying to get selection for major international races.
“He was trying to break into the hardest under 23 team in the world. That’s Australia, and he is not Australian.
“I worked with him before at the SEG Racing team. Back then, he was an Australian national.
“So any international rides he was hoping to get were with the Australian under 23 team.
“That is a hard enough team to break into when [you are from there]… It may be the wrong thing to say, but he wasn’t really Australian.”
Reading between the lines, what Martin means is that McCarthy, as a rider who was born in Ireland and spent the first part of his life there, was never going to be considered as Australian as others vying for a place on the squad.
McCarthy winning stage 2. He'd go on to have bad luck in the race, but this was the first UCI victory he's taken since coming back to cycling (Photo: Bryan Keane - Inpho)
Whatever he did, Martin believes that others would be seen as more eligible for selection. Returning to racing for Ireland was, he believes, the logical thing to do.
“He is Irish through and through for me, and a lot of people as well. Even now you see the people who come up to him – ‘I know your dad, I know your family.’
“He is a Paddy, and this is what he needs and what he deserves. When he declared for Ireland, I was happy. I was over the moon then, but this is just the icing.”
Martin is guiding the Ireland national team riders in the race, and didn’t have to wait long for success.
On Sunday’s opening stage Jake Gray took a fine sixth place; approximately 24 hours later, McCarthy topped the podium when he won a big bunch sprint into Tipperary.
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The result was great for McCarthy, who took a one and a half year break from the sport starting in mid-2015.
He returned at the start of last season with a new focus, and has been building continuously since then.
“He had time out, he had time travelling,” said Martin, the father of Ireland’s top pro Dan Martin.
“He had time just riding a bike. I kept in contact with him. He was touring, he was walking.
“For sure sometimes riders have to…if they are doing it from an early age, sometimes they have to step back and realise that the bit they can be missing, the partying and all that, that there is not really a great deal to that.
“This is the best sport in the world, and they miss it, and then they come back with real hunger. It happens quite a lot.
“I am just so, so happy for Robert-Jon. It has been coming for a few years now. This is just amazing for him, I am just so happy for him.”
Neil Martin managed the Irish team on the Rás. He has also looked after the Irish U23 squad and seen his own son, Dan Martin, come up through the ranks (Photo: Shane Stokes)
Asked to define the double Rás stage winner, Martin was quick to emphasise that he has a range of qualities.
“I think he is more than a sprinter,” he said. “I think he can develop into being more than a sprinter. What is Sagan? What is Degenkolb? What are these guys?
“I think he is that sort of a rider where eventually he can win hillier races. But we will keep him as a sprinter on days like this,” he added, smiling.
Netting fifth on a stage of the recent Tour de Yorkshire was important, and so too hitting the top step of the podium.
Martin believes that more big results are on the way, not least because of the confidence boost Monday brought.
“UCI wins are really important,” he said. “He has missed that feeling of winning. I said, ‘well, there you go…it is back.’
“The first win for a while is always the hardest, and then they flow. Then they start to come.”
So what about the future? McCarthy appears to be building momentum – does Martin believe he has time to make it as a pro rider?
“For sure, for sure. He is 24,” he answered. “Everybody gets wound up about this under 23 category as well.
“‘If you have not done it by the time you are 23, it is all over.’ Not now.
“People turn pro at 27, 28. You see some fantastic stories now about guys who are 28, 29 turning pro. So, he has got time. He has got time for sure.”
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