Having been on the podium six times at home and taken a win in Belgium, next season represents an opportunity for Cathal Clarke to race aggressively and without fear.
Having taken a strong win in Belgium this year, Newry’s Cathal Clarke is setting his sights on a stage victory and classification jersey at the Junior Tour next July.
He is also hoping to make the national team for the road race at the World Championships in Richmond in September.
The younger brother of U23 road and track international Cormac Clarke, he added 2014 was definitely his “best season to date” and he aims to build on that despite his A-Levels next June.
“To get the chance to experience racing over in Belgium was a real eye-opener,” he said of the season just gone.
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“This year has definitely developed me as a better rider. I’ve gained a lot experience and I see racing in a different perspective now.
“Racing in Belgium is really aggressive and fast; it’s not quite selective enough for pure climbers but hard enough to drop the big sprinters.
"It’s as much about using your head as your legs; like knowing when to cross over to the break or what rider to follow.
Leading the way in Belgium in August; Clarke will return there once his exams are completed next year.
"You also have three races a week, so you have that opportunity to compete more often.”
Second three times on the home scene and third three times, a win would elude him until he broke his duck abroad.
In August he proved strongest of 70 starters in a 100km kermesse in the village of St Jan near Ieper.
“Within two hours of winning that I’d three different team managers writing to me offering me free accommodation and their race programme for next year,” he explained.
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However, despite that interest he is set to stay with Newry Wheelers; a club Clarke said has supported him for years.
And when he travels to Belgium again after his A Levels he hopes to guest with a team there.
“To ride the World Championships is a big goal for me,” he said of his plans for the year ahead; his second and final season as an U18 rider.
Clarke taking his victory on foreign soil this year. He hopes to do plenty of traveling to race abroad next year all going well.
"I’ve looked at the course and it seems very technical and rolly so it suits me. And it shouldn’t be too different to a kermesse because the laps are only 10km.
"The Junior Tour is also a race I’d like to do well in; maybe a stage win and a jersey would be a good result.
“But next year I want to go out with the mentality to be aggressive and take on the big hitters like (Damien) Shaw, (Mark) Dowling and (Fraser) Duncan.
"I have nothing to lose in a break with riders like that. So I want to try and outwit them at least once.
"The one thing I think a lot of juniors do, myself included, is get overwhelmed by a rider or his results. And automatically you think it's race over and let them ride away.
“I learnt in Belgium that no matter who they are, you don’t let them intimidate you.
"I would love to come to the finish of a big race like the Wallace Caldwell and beat one of them.
"Eddie Dunbar showed it’s possible at The Tour of the North against three Velosure riders. To be competitive at the World Champs you’d to be winning A1 races.”
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