Single-minded and aggressive from the first day he threw his leg over the crossbar of a bike, Sean Kelly believes when Irish riders are trying to make the breakthrough to the big time, they need to race as aggressively as they can and not be intimidated by big names and big races.
By Shane Stokes
Former world number one, Sean Kelly believes his An Post Chainreaction team should be on course for another strong season, with some of the new signings giving him confidence that a big 2014 is in store.
The Continental team inked new deals with a number of competitors for this season, with three Irish riders amongst those coming on board. Kelly believes all three could go on to have successful years, although he emphasises the necessity that they gain experience in racing in Belgium and elsewhere.
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“I think the signings are interesting,” he told stickybottle in a sit down video interview, which can be seen below.
“Ryan Mullen is a huge talent. He has huge power. Maybe in the actual road racing he hasn’t got the experience and that is something that he has to learn a bit in this coming year, because time trialing was his forte point.
“I think he will lack experience in actual road racing. But he will learn that. He is still very young. He has age on his side. He has a year to develop, learn the tricks of the trade and to go on from there.”
Mullen highlighted his class recently with a fourth place finish in the individual pursuit in his first-ever elite track world championships.
Last year he took bronze medals in both the scratch race and the individual pursuit at the European track championships, was seventh in the world under 23 time trial championships and dominated the under 23 Chrono des Nations time trial event.
He currently has a faster 25 mile time trial time than Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins did at the same age, with this statistic also illustrating his strength against the clock.
The other two signings are Marcus Christie, who shattered the Irish 50 mile time trial record by over five minutes last July, plus Conor Dunne, the stage one winner in the 2013 An Post Rás.
Kelly underlines the importance of building experience for both those riders. He believes that Christie needs to keep building his bike handling, describing it as a challenge for him.
“In his first Junior Tour of Ireland he had so many crashes. His bike handling was real poor,” he stated.
“He has improved a big amount but in the races such as those here in Belgium, it is so aggressive and there is so much fighting for positions in the earlier part of the race, when the race is really going on.
“That is where Marcus is going to struggle. Hopefully he will learn how to overcome that a bit and improve. It is going to certainly be a learning year for him and certainly in the first six months he is going to have to learn a lot and how to race in that aggressive way.”
Christie has, however, already got things off to a good start, finishing sixth on the opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges stage race in France and holding the best young rider’s jersey during the race.
He is psyched to seize the opportunity after several years hampered by injury, and believes he is in good condition.
As for Dunne, he missed last week’s An Post team launch in Belgium due to illness, but is recovering now. He is another who Kelly feels has talent but who may need time to settle in.
“That sort of racing, that aggressive racing, will be a learning curve for him as well," he said.
"I think in at least the first number of months he will have to try to learn the style of racing here. [It could take] possibly a year to really get to grips with it.
“I think he is a guy who has got the talent, has got the power, but it is not all about the sheer power… you have to be able to ride your bike, you have to be able to read the races, you have to be in the good position at the right moment in a race.”
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If he can do that, Kelly feels he could land strong results.
As for the two other Irish riders on the team - Jack Wilson and Sean Downey; Kelly sees 2014 as a year when both must continue improving.
Both raced alongside Sam Bennett last season and with the Carrick-on-Suir rider winning a stage of the Tour of Britain and going on to a pro contract with the NetApp Endura team, Kelly hopes he will inspire both to do likewise.
“Jack Wilson had his apprentice year last year. Sean Downey is that little bit further on… he is going into his third year now. He has to do results this year,” he said.
“He should be able to look at the Bennett situation, where he came from, at the level he started at in our team, seeing it is possible to do it.
“But you have to get the confidence, and that is the difficult thing. To get confidence in yourself. To go out there, to get into those races and be aggressive. That is what you have to be.
“I think guys are a little intimidated when they go into the big races with the big teams and big riders. They think these guys are monsters but you can do it. I think Bennett is the perfect example.
“You have to go out there and really be aggressive in those races, and get yourself into the position where you can get results. Then when you get some results you can build on that. It’s what you have got to do.”
Providing that confidence is there and the approach is right, Kelly feels that more riders can go on to bigger teams.
“I feel the guys have got a certain amount of talent. I think they can get the results they need to go on to a bigger team.”
In the video below Kelly also assesses the 2013 season enjoyed by the squad and talks about how important Sam Bennett’s success was, both for him and also for the team in general.
He describes the obstacles that Bennett had to overcome to reach the next point in his career. He also assesses the foreign riders on the team.
Kelly also confirms that with the Tour of Britain moving up to 2.HC ranking on the international calendar, that the squad could miss out on participation this year.
He reveals that the team plans on lobbying the UCI for an exception to the rule which dictates that only Continental teams registered in the country hosting 2.HC events are eligible to get wildcards.
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