Behind the emotion of Ian Richardson's fantastic ride on the Rás so far is an amazing story of survival and resilience (Photo: George Doyle)
On Sunday afternoon in Carlow, college student Ian Richardson climbed the steps up to the Rás podium.
He hadn’t won the stage nor taken the coveted yellow jersey. But he was first county man home and by his own admission “swollen with pride and in tears”.
He would follow up that ride with another fantastic performance on stage 2 of the big one yesterday.
He made the front group into Tipperary when a late cat 3 climb split the race to pieces and Richardson once again sprint in to take the county award.
He finds himself top Irish man overall, in 5th position. There is a long way to go in this race and he wants more, though readily admits his “week is made”.
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But behind that sporting success is an amazing human story; one of horrific injury inflicted accidentally as a child that resulted in years of pain.
Weight gain followed until his 17½ stone bulk and the unhappiness it brought forced him to turn his life around.
Already wearing the county rider jersey from his day in the stage 1 breakaway, Richardson comes home top county man again yesterday into Tipperary (Photo: George Doyle)
And now in a race that can make or break men his transformation seems complete.
“When I was 15 I got shot in the legs out hunting,” he explains of the extraordinary turn of events in his younger days.
“I used to train Labradors with my mum. I was at a local shooting in Slane and got a full blast in the legs from one of the guns there.
“I still have 300 shotgun pellets in my legs. I was in pain for a couple of years with that and put on a lot of weight; went up to 17½ stone when I was 21 years old.
“I was having trouble in college; I wasn’t happy with myself at that stage. And then one day one of my sister’s friends told me she did a triathlon.
“I’d been cycling in and out of college and had done a few charity rides, so I said I’d give it a go and it went from there.”
Riding the Rás last year with UCD CC. Left to right: Art MacManusa, Con Collis, Richardson, Eoin Morton and Anto Walsh.
He competed in a number of races and found himself drawn more to the cycling discipline. He began combining cycling as a sport in itself with triathlon for one season four years ago.
He rode the Gorey Three Day that year where his time trialling ability yielded a 2nd place on the TT stage to a young junior rider called Ryan Mullen.
The victor that day is now riding with An Post-Chainreaction and was a silver medalist in the U23 TT at the World Championships last year.
Richardson says he can’t quite believe how far he has come and especially how the first two days of this Rás have gone for him.
“After the first stage; really I was just swollen with joy. I was in tears on the podium. The amount of work I have done in training....
“You know, I’ve yet to have a win in a road race; I’ve had wins in time trials. And also I’m trying to balance doing a Phd and training; my thesis is due in August,” he laughs, clearly slightly nervous about the long hours in the library waiting for him just down the road.
Richardson believes the characteristics that have made him a good time trial rider will stand him in good stead this week (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
From Slane in Co Meath but living in Dublin, the 27-year-old’s Phd is in the genetics of tuberculosis in cattle, which he is completing in Trinity College, Dublin.
That undertaking follows an undergraduate degree in biochemistry in UCD and a Masters in biotechnology, also in UCD.
As well as his academic and cycling prowess, Richardson has also represented Ireland in age-related triathlon; finishing 5th in the European Championships in the 20 to 24 years age category in 2010.
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This week, he believes a combination of a parcours without any cat 1 climbs and the elements have suited power riders like him,
“There’s a lot of crosswinds and you could tell from the break on the first day; there was a lot of really good time trial riders in there.
“You had the likes of Martyn Irvine and Ryan Mullen, and I’d like to think I’d include myself in that list.”
Time trialling in the green of Ireland at the World University Championships in Poland last summer.
He said yesterday when Bryan McCrystal (Team ASEA) attacked with Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis), Hugo Robinson (Neon Velo Cycling Team) and Simon Ryan (Limerick Mego RT) most of the bigger teams in the race seemed content to let them go.
“They didn’t really turn the screws until the last 60km or so to try and bring them back. And then we came into the narrow roads before the last climb,” he said of the cat 3 ascent of Aherlow with just 10km remaining to the stage end in Tipperary.
“I didn’t realise how narrow the roads were going to get there and I was in the top 30; it was all about positioning getting into the climb.
“And I just found then when the climbing started I had an extra gear that I didn’t have on the Rás last year.”
Richardson added while he had heard the climb was steep, it suited him better than he thought.
Richardson - front row, second from left - competing for Ireland in triathlon back in 2010.
“Most of the cat 3s on the Rás; you’re going over them at 40km per hour. But this was steeper, a bit of a leg breaker.
“There was a hairpin on it and I think a lot of people would have lost momentum there.
“I was just hanging onto the back of that front group; right over the top of it. And then Sean McKenna (Cork-Aquablue) managed to get back on going down the descent; he drilled it down.
“And then when I saw him in the group, we both had each other in our side views and sprinted against each other,” he said of the battle for the county prize on the day.
While he toyed with the idea of jumping away from the group on the fast run in to the finish, he said the breeze and the control being exerted by some of the teams with several riders in the move dissuaded him.
However, the fact he was even thinking in those terms underlines how far he has progressed.
What a feeling, getting to pin my numbers onto the @anpostras #countyrider jersey. @UCD_Cycling @ucdsportsclubs pic.twitter.com/yf6KAqEbdY
— Ian Richardson (@breakaway_ian) May 18, 2015
“I came to the realisation at the dinner table today that I’m the leading Irish rider in the race; 5th overall at the moment. So, really like, I’m speechless.
“I’d like to keep the county jersey to the end of the week. But you have to see how it goes; see how your legs are feeling. But my week is made already.
“My dad was at the finish yesterday and he was in tears as well; like, hugging me and everything, my mum too.
“My whole family went out to celebrate last night. They all really understand how much it means to me.
“It was amazing the respect I was getting from the professional riders today,” he added of yesterday’s stage 2.
“I was moving up into the train on the front and they were letting me in; ‘there you go’. And it’s such a big advantage being up there out of the wind.”
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