Sean Lacey on his way to continuing his stunning run at the Lacey Cup, Tralee, Co Kerry (Photo: www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
By Brian Canty
Sean Lacey has taken his fifth straight win at the Lacey Cup in Tralee today, Sunday, after another superb show of tactical know-how and strength.
The Aquablue rider, in his home race, was the man to watch among the bumper 225 rider field but nobody had his horse-power coming down the finishing straight – though second and third placed Mick Fitzgerald (Fermoy CC) and Dylan O’Brien (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC) tried valiantly.
Little wonder Lacey was over the moon as he embraced friends and family at the finish.
“I’m absolutely delighted, delighted,” he said.
“The win in this race means an awful lot to me. It’s my home town, it’s the first race of the year, it’s my family cup and I always give it everything every year. We had the strongest team today but it was the most tactical Lacey Cup race I’ve ever raced in. My team never gave up on me and it was great that I was able to pull it off for them,” he added.
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Indeed, his team-mates deserve special mention for their efforts today and without them, the win simply would not have been possible. And while singling out one rider from a team line-up is probably harsh, Olan Barrett deserves immense credit for his efforts.
Barrett, a younger brother of former international rider Stephen, buried himself at the base of the last climb after Castlemaine just when the decisive five-man break had formed.
In that front group were Barrett and Lacey as well as Fitzgerald, O’Brien and John Dempsey (Iverk produce Carrick Wheelers).
An initial gap of 10 seconds swelled to 25 seconds and then to over a minute thanks to the strong pulls of Barrett. And by the top of that climb – where O’Brien (who is still only 16 years of age) took the prime for the Teddy Griffin Memorial, they had stretched it to half a minute.
Paidi O'Brien and Barry Meade (both Planet Tri) both rode a steady tempo to try and reduce the arrears and salvage something for their team. But they hadn't enough help and were forced to sprint for fourth place.
Barrett blew up shortly before the top of the climb, but he had his work done. Lacey then did the rest, with the finish only five kilometres away.
“Olan just buried himself for me," said the winner.
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"He got away with Michael Fitzgerald and John Dempsey 10 miles before the last climb, and then there was a stall in the bunch and I just got out and across, just as they were blocking off the road. And my ex team-mate’s son Dylan came across with me and the five of us just worked straight away, fully dedicated to the break,” explained Lacey.
“Initially we only had eight or ten seconds and it seemed to be like that for ages, and then it opened to 25. Then we had a minute hitting the climb and I said if we ride it hard tempo we’d hold them off. Olan buried himself at the foot of the climb. He just told me on the run-in to the climb that he wouldn’t have it, so he buried himself with one final effort before going straight out the back.”
“And then it was Fitzgerald and myself doing most of the work going up the climb. Dempsey was hurting a small bit and then Dylan put in a big turn in the last kilometre and put John out the back.”
The descent was a twisty one with several bends to negotiate but Lacey backed himself.
As for the sprint, he said: “There was a slight stall with around 500 metres to go and I just went for it. I suppose the writing was on the wall for O’Brien with his junior gears going down the descent as well, but it wasn’t easy. I’m delighted to have pulled it off for the team.”
Aquablue, who executed a superb lead-out train, took fourth place through Robin Kelly but the day belonged to Lacey.
Aside from having the legs, he knew the race better than anyone else today, having checked the wind yesterday with his uncle Matt. And that had a crucial bearing on today’s outcome.
“It came down to race preparation,” he said.
“I rode that final climb yesterday and we rode it hard and it was a similar wind. So I knew exactly how hard it was going to be. I would have had that edge on others today and when I hit the foot of the climb, I just said ‘this is the 10 minute effort I did yesterday’. And it worked out again today.”
But having said that, his was the wheel to watch and having over 200 riders vying for his wheel brings pressure.
“It does yeah, an awful lot of pressure. I’ve to try and be at the top of my game but I’ve had a great run and any win I get after the first one is a bonus and that’s the way I try to look at it.”
The race had been active from the outset with the A4 category getting several minutes over the A3 group who in turn had a similar gap over the A2s and A1s. But by the climb of Gleann na Gealt it was all together – which gives some indication of how fast the scratch group rode. Or perhaps, how slow the A3’s and 4’s were.
Coming into Inch a seven-man escape formed and managed a gap of over 20 seconds and in it was O’Brien, last week’s winner in Monasterevin Barry Meade, as well as Tralee’s Cathal Moynihan and Dylan Foley of the Nicolas Roche Performance Team.
However, that break were reeled in by Boolteens thanks to some strong riding on the front, which then saw the decisive break go clear.
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