Tim Barry’s new team ‘Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes’ is hopeful of a stage win in the An Post Ras and plans to take its riders to race in France to specifically prepare for the Irish race.
“We’re going to ride the Essor Breton stage race in France between Ras Mumhan and the Ras to prepare,” Barry told stickybottle.
“The Ras is a huge step up from any other form of racing in Ireland so we want to go away for some hard racing that will probably be harder than the Ras.”
“We are obviously a domestic team with no full-timers, but with a bit of luck on the day we feel we have the riders who could win a stage in the Ras, it is certainly possible.”
Barry, who has run The Edge Racing Team over the past two seasons, has now formed an expanded squad and brought in new sponsors to create his new outfit.
The new riders include former An Post-Sean Kelly rider Paidi O’Brien and Stephen Clancy, who won the domestic based rider of the year in 2011 when riding as a first year senior with Limerick CC.
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They will join Joe Fenlon, Tim Barry, Niall Brosnan, Séan Lacey, Michael Fitzgerald, Cathal McCarthy, John Horgan and Michael O’Reilly.
Barry said while the core squad carried over from last year were “all very strong” he believed the addition of O’Brien and Clancy was exciting.
“You have a rider in Paidi who was second in the Ras to the world TT champion Tony Martin. OK, he’s in college now doing a degree but I feel he can still be well up there, even in the Ras.”
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“With Stephen, he has come on hugely in his first year as a senior and I see him as a winner of races too, it’s that simple. But Sean Lacey and all of the other lads will do well too; it’s not just about one or two riders. It’ll be the riders who are going the best that will be on the team for the Ras so there should be lots of competition.”
Barry has brought on board as title sponsors the construction company and long-time backer of Irish cycling Dan Morrissey and Speedy Spokes, the Cork-based retail and online cycle firm.
“We certainly feel this could be a long term relationship with the main and secondary sponsors but obviously we have to get results and give them something back in that sense,” said Barry.
The team will ride Cervelo bikes and will also be sponsored by Kinetica Nutrition. Also among the secondary sponsors are Cork Coffee Roasted – a coffee shop at the bottom of the infamous St Patrick’s Hill – and the renowned Kenmare restaurant ‘No. 35 Kenmare’.
Barry said the new team would continue to focus on races like the An Post Ras, Ras Mumhan, the Tour of Ulster and the national Classic League, but would also look to take in races in the UK, France and Spain as part of an extended programme.
He says the team’s real strength in recent years has been riding as a unit and this will be maintained.
“None of the guys is full time. They all have college or jobs, family commitments. But they have still been getting some of the best results in the country. So you need very tight team work for that.”
He points out that the riders rostered with Team Edge last year, the new squad’s predecessor, got seven wins combined in 2009. When they came together as a team for the first time in 2010 that doubled to 14 wins and reached 13 victories in 2011.
The team’s riders have won Ras Mumhan for the past two years – with Barry and Sean Lacey.
It has also won the prestigious Shay Elliott Classic and the Classic League in 2010 (both Sean Lacey), has taken two Munster titles, took the county price in the An Post Ras this year and won the county rider prize on two of eight stages.
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