By Shane Stokes
After trying throughout the race, Kevin McCambridge saved the best for last on yesterday’s concluding stage of the Rás Tailteann, darting clear on the finishing circuits in Blackrock and holding off a furiously-chasing main bunch.
He made his move shortly after a four man breakaway containing race leader Daire Feeley, William Perrett (Dublin Spellman Dublin Port), Archie Ryan (Ireland National Team) and Dean Watson (Britain Embark-Bikestrong) was reeled in. He raced solo over the finish line for the start of the final 9.9 kilometre lap, opened up a 20 second lead and reached the line three seconds clear.
The 20 year old Britain Trinity Racing rider was elated after the finish, landing one of the most impressive stage wins of the week.
“The Rás is like the world championships for an Irish rider,” he said at the finish. “It is just amazing. The crowds, the people…I was so happy.
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“My legs weren’t feeling good at the start but as the day went on they just got better and better. I tried to go over the second KOH but with the wind it wasn’t possible. After the break got brought back, I got away with three guys.
“I didn’t feel the pace was strong enough, so I went solo. I just put my head down and rode as hard as I could. It was enough today.”
McCambridge has had an up and down season, performing strongly in Spain early on. He dropped all the other riders in the uphill Gran Premio Comarca de Polopos in Andalucía on March 20th to win by almost two minutes, and then won the Cronoescalada a la Ermita de San Isidro uphill time trial one week later. However he caught Covid, sidelining him for a time.
He recovered from that and lined out with his Trinity Racing Team in the Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux in Belgium in early April, but crashed hard in the stage 3a time trial. He fractured both wrists and suffered concussion.
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McCambridge returned to Irish racing and gradually built form, finishing seventh in the round three of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series, the Sean Nolan Meath GP, in May and then soloed to victory in the Haldane Fisher North Down GP at the end of the month.
He hoped for a strong Rás ride but said that things weren’t quite firing on all cylinders early on.
“With stage races I always feel stronger as the race goes on. I had a real easy week last week so I sort of struggled in the first half of the race,” he explained. “But as the days went on I got stronger and stronger. So it was good.”
Ending the Rás on a high sets him up perfectly for the national championships. He will ride the time trial on Thursday, then the road race on Sunday.
Supported by the Belgian Project as a young rider, McCambridge is the current national under 23 champion and was previously the runner-up in 2020 and the junior champion in 2019.
He will be psyched to defend his title but, as his Rás result shows, he could also be a force in the road race.
“The time trial is my best event, but I feel like I can do both,” he said. “So I will do my best.”
McCambridge spent the winter in Spain, training hard at Cycle Sierra Nevada, in Andalusia. He said that he may go back there after the national championships in order to build form for later in the year.
He’s got one particular target in mind, starting August 18th. “I hope to do Tour de l’Avenir, if all goes well with the selection,” he said. “That is my main goal of the year.”
