Paddy Clarke (leading) in the colours of his Terra Footwear team in Belgium this year
By Brian Canty
Mayo rider Paddy Clarke is facing an interesting couple of weeks as he tries to nail down a slot on what he hopes will be a UK team for next season. The 24-year-old Ballina man has decided to end his three-year stint in Belgium as he now looks to further his career closer to home.
At present, Clarke is in talks with a couple of Premier Calendar teams and the likes
of IG Sigma Sport and the UK Youth’s team of Yanto Barker and Magnus Backstedt. He should know in the next week or so where his immediate future lies.
“Honestly, going back out to Belgium, I’m just going into a cul de sac; it’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Clarke told stickybottle.
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He has been riding with the Terra Footwear team in Belgium but has now decided it is time to part company with them.
“I could be out there for the next five years smashing and bashing but the whole thing is about moving up in cycling. Unless I’m moving on now to Continental level in Belgium it’s hard to justify being out there, because I am almost 24 and age is a big thing in cycling.”
“I don’t want doors closing in around me and then getting too old and realising I should have went to the UK five years ago. I think that’s the best avenue to go for now.”
“Everyone says, ‘oh the UK scene lacks the depth of the season on the Continent’. But they ride good races and the programmes aren’t bad and if you get into a Continental team you’re a lot more attractive to other big teams. And then you can look for a bit of a wage and try to get something out of it. Otherwise, going back out to Belgium; I save up so much money to be able to pay my way out there but when you return home it’s all gone and you’ve very little to show.”
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Clarke believes he can progress just as well through hard racing here and the UK, should a move there present itself.
“Some people think the calendar in Ireland is a poor calendar. You get all this talk about how if you want to do well you have to be in Belgium or abroad. Of course you can go abroad but there’s no point going abroad if you can’t win in your own country.”
“People run off out to Belgium thinking they’re going to win. Look at Adam Armstrong, he didn’t leave the country all year and he came third in a stage of the Rás. Ryan Sherlock is no different. The man is a warrior of a rider and he spent almost 90 per cent of the season in Ireland. He went out to Belgium then and he was getting top 10’s in races every week. And that’s off the form he developed here in Ireland.”
“I would say the racing in Ireland pre-season is just as good as the racing in Belgium pre-season actually. In Belgium, there’s only two kermesse races a week that you can actually get to. You must remember, we have the Des Hanlon, the Cycleways Cup followed by one or two races every weekend up until the Rás.”
“And they’re good quality races, as long as any kermesse race and then we have stage races throughout Easter. It’s a great calendar but people do shoot it down a lot. If I stay in Ireland and alternate between the UK and home calendar here, I’ll get a lot of solid races.”
“In Belgium I did a lot of races and I often wondered if I took maybe a block of training and then race; I wonder would you be better off, instead of just racing, racing, racing? It’s hard to know if you’re improving or not that way.”
He still believes, however, that racing in Belgium transformed him as a rider.
“It was a great learning curve and it’s made me a much better rider. Three years ago I went out there and the difference in my riding is massive. I’m more aggressive, I’m more zoned in and I know what I need to do to get to the next level up.”
“But it’s like being in college; the team supply you with bikes and kit and maybe some rent but then, other than that, you’re on your own. If I can have a good solid winter, no injury, no illness, no sickness; then make a good pre-season and spring, bring myself into the Rás in top fitness I’d be hopeful of a good improvement on last year.”
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