Ciaran Power on the podium at the end of stage 1 of the An Post Rás having claimed the county rider prize for the day (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
By Brian Canty
Ciarán Power rolled back the years today with a great performance to take the county rider prize on the opening stage of the An Post Rás.
The Comeragh CC rider, riding the race for the first time since 2008, said he loved every minute of today’s 144-kilometre trek from Dublin Castle to Multyfarnham at the end of which he finished 16th.
He was swarmed by friends, colleagues and teammates at the finish and struggled to even grasp the enormity of what he’d managed to do after a fast and frenetic day that saw four of his teammates crash and three require new bikes.
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“I loved it, it’s so long since I was racing at this level, just to be in the mix again in brilliant," said comeback man power who has shed a large amount of weight to even get to the start line of the race.
“Thank God there was only a category three climb because the fumes were coming outta me every time we went uphill!
“I was delighted to get over that category three climb at Lough Crew and once we did I was confident I could do something.”
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Power even hinted at a tiny element of regret at not finishing higher.
“It’s just a pity that break was away,” he said in relation to a late split caused by one of many crashes.
“I know I can place in the sprints, I mightn’t be the fastest but if everything goes well I’ll definitely get up there.
“I don’t have legs to be going after breaks so I have to place all my bets on the one thing (the sprint). But there’s a long week and you never know what’ll happen.
“Coming in I didn’t have any expectations so to get on the podium on the first day is great, we’ve great sponsors behind us and it’s great to give something back.”
It was by no means an easy day, mind, and the huge time gaps will confirm that.
But Power still felt good enough to be going back to the team car for bottles for his teammates.
“Morgan (Fox – team manager) is good ol’ craic so it’s good to call him up now and again.
“The rest of the lads had misfortune, they all crashed and Morgan had the two Planet X bikes gone by the time we needed the third so he’ll have to go back to the shop tonight to get more!
“There were a lot of crashes but I tried to stay the front as best I could and surf the bunch. I was close enough a few times to coming down but I was lucky.”
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