Dylan Foley, riding for the Irish National Junior Team, took a really good win in Gorey at Easter and will be looking to repeat that in Cork this weekend (Photo: www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
By Brian Canty
Dylan Foley will start this weekend's Corkman Three-Day in Kanturk as one of a number of favourites having blazed a trail on the domestic front this year.
The Nicolas Roche Performance Team strongman has taken some fine wins recently at Fermoy, the Cycleways Cup in Navan, the St Patrick’s Day race in Carrick-on-Suir and the John Drumm Memorial in Currow last weekend.
He also took overall honours in the Gorey Three Day at Easter and on the way to that victory was second in the time trial stage 2. He'll be backed this weekend by David McCarthy, Fintan Ryan, Danny Bruton and Darragh Long.
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Foley was fifth overall last year, a mere 11 seconds off winner Marc Flavin of Dungarvan. But he will face some stiff challenge at the weekend from the likes of Cathal Moynihan (Tralee BC), Denis Dunworth (Visit Nenagh) and local men Eddie Dunbar and Barry Meade of O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk and Planet-Tri respectively.
Dunbar is in great shape and with both a winning engine and attitude, anyone who wants to take the race this year will need to tame him. The race is notorious for being a very open and hard to predict contest, and is usually decided by seconds.
Last year, Flavin won the overall on the final day when he escaped in the final half hour of racing and jumped from fifth to first, with just a second to spare over second-placed Olan Barrett. The runner-up had been in that late escape with Flavin and had he pulled out two more bike lengths on the uphill finish, he would have taken the overall title.
With three relatively flat stages and with the race having recently been won by such small margins, Sunday morning’s 8km time-trial will be crucial.
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Foley will be one of the favourites in that test, and with Thomas Fallon (Vacansoleil) and Sean Hahesy (Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers) deciding to concentrate on their Leaving Cert, it’s very much advantage Foley. Meade and Dunbar will know the course better than most, while Dunworth was third overall in the past by just eight seconds and he seems to be coming into form.
Stages one and three are the most likely to end in bunch sprints with Nenagh’s Mehall Fitzgerald a strong contender if those stages are indeed decided by gallops.
The Scully brothers, Thomas and Ger, will be good support riders for Fitzgerald and having both placed in the top 10 at the Minane Bridge Classic recently, will look for another good result here.
Blarney will be spearheaded by Robert Forrest and Kieran Crean, both of whom are strong sprinters and have both been placed in the last few weeks in Fermoy and Currow.
The racing begins on Saturday with a 100km stage starting and finishing just outside Kanturk on a slight drag. Last year Simon Ryan took the honours in a bunch sprint but has since been upgraded to A1. A similar outcome is expected again but with a couple of climbs to negotiate, Dunbar will do his best to put some time into his rivals ahead of the time-trial.
That 8km test on Sunday morning is almost pan flat except for a slight drag after a few hundred metres. Any time under 11 minutes is likely to put riders well up on GC. Just four riders broke that mark last year – with Foley amongst them.
Stage three is a short and fast 70 kilometre race around Banteer with five laps to be covered. A three-man break did manage to escape last year with Matt Slattery of Killarney taking the win, but the bunch caught them on the line, so no time gaps were incurred. This is a stage made for Fitzgerald (Nenagh) and Meade (Planet Tri).
Stage four is a 90 kilometre trek which is laced with danger. The GC will be closely packed and the yellow jersey will need to be vigilant. There will be attacks galore so it’s a case of watching or following the ones that matter.
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