Still just 24-years-old there’s lots of water under Robbie McCarthy’s bridge; his second day in an Irish jersey adding a pride-filled chapter in a storied career (Photo: Shane Stokes)
By Shane Stokes
Four years on from his sprint victory into Roscommon; Robert-Jon McCarthy topped the Rás Tailteann podium again on Monday’s second stage of the race.
The victory is his biggest since returning to the sport at the start of last season. And it comes weeks after he took a fine fifth place on stage three of the Tour de Yorkshire.
McCarthy has long been regarded as one of the most promising young riders from this country.
However, this race marks the first time he has worn an Irish national team jersey: for several years he was racing under an Australian licence, and so was ineligible to compete in the green.
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That’s all changed now, and he is certainly making an impression in that national team debut.
“I am obviously really, really happy,” he said after his victory. “It has been a long road back to get a win again.
“I am just ecstatic to get up there. I have been working very hard, knocking on the door a bit.
“I have done a lot of riding for the team this year – JLT has obviously been a really strong team.
“So it is nice to be able to capitalise on an opportunity and put my name back up there.”
Robbie McCarthy's win was impressive and highly significant; an embrace of the country of his birth and his first win since stepping away from bike racing (Photo: Bryan Keane - Inpho)
McCarthy won the bunch sprint on Sunday behind the break and knew he was in good shape. He described how things played out in the finale yesterday for his win.
“It was a pretty straightforward run in. It was a big road coming in, so it was just your typical bunch sprint finish,” he told stickybottle.
“Teams trying to organise themselves, do lead-outs…those kind of things. There was a corner with 300 meters to go which complicated things slightly with the wet.
“I managed to negotiate that really well and come off it in second wheel behind the Dutch guy,” he added of eventual runner-up Luuc Bugter of Netherlands Delta Cycling X.
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“I was able to pass him pretty easily in the finish. I just timed it really well and I was able to get the win well.”
McCarthy grew up in Ireland but emigrated to Australia with his family as a teen. He showed his promise when he won the Australian junior national championships in 2012.
He outsprinted Caleb Ewan to do so, two years before Ewan finished second in the world under 23 championships.
McCarthy won the opening leg of the Rás in 2014, yet ran out of motivation midway 2015 and walked away from cycling.
Sunny Australia it is not, but Robbie McCarthy reveled in the Irish rain into Tipperary yesterday (Photo: BryanKeane-Inpho)
At the time it seemed like he might be lost to the sport, but things worked out differently.
“I put a bit too much pressure on myself before,” he said. “It was hard obviously being with my family based in Australia.
“It was a culmination of a lot of things, why I took a step back. Then I just really found my love for the sport again, and really tried to enjoy the sport again.”
There was another factor too in his resurgence.
“Obviously changing back to Ireland [an Irish racing licence]… I think that was probably always on the agenda.
“But a big part of that was with the two year wait [under the rules] to do the World Championships.
“When I was under 23 that was too big a part of the season to sacrifice for two years. But it was always going to be on the cards.
“Obviously I am Irish and to put on the Irish jersey is an honour like nothing I have ever felt before. Every Irishman; we are very patriotic people.”
Part of pressing his reset button lay in being able to do other things for a while. Before that, he was highly focussed on making it as a rider, yet that intensity and the pressure on his shoulders combined to sap his affection for the sport.
“I definitely do feel more focussed now,” he said. “I suppose when you step outside of the bubble of cycling and then you realise how privileged that position of being a pro cyclist is, you definitely are a bit more hungry. You realise the opportunity that you have.
“But at the same time I am also probably a bit more relaxed. I know not to beat myself up too much. If you make a mistake here or there, you also realise it is just bike racing as well.
“There is a lot more to life and you don’t need to be putting too much pressure on yourself too.”
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