By Shane Stokes
Matthew Teggart has shown great praise for Rás Tailteann winner Daire Feeley, saying that he was a very worthy winner of the Rás Tailteann due to his qualities as a rider and a person.
Teggart won the opening stage of the race last Wednesday and took the yellow jersey. He was then displaced by the British rider Louis Sutton (Spain Brocar-Ale) on stage two, who in turn was overhauled by Feeley the following day.
Teggart continued to look for opportunities but ended up fifth overall, and also second on Sunday’s final stage. He was generous in his praise about Cork All Human/Velo Revolution rider after the end of the race.
“Fair play to Feeley, nobody deserves it more, in my opinion,” he told stickybottle. “I am absolutely delighted for him. He definitely deserves a big result like this, so I am delighted for him."
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Asked to clarify why he felt Feeley was so deserving, he qualified his statement.
“Definitely his aggression. He is the most aggressive, most honest rider in the peloton, in my opinion. He will never, ever skip a turn and he is always on the front foot, always on the attack. They say fortune favours the brave and it favoured Feeley, so he deserves that. I am delighted to see him win.”
Feeley had a comfortable 51 second lead over Sutton heading into the final stage, yet still went up the road rather than playing things safe and staying in the bunch. Teggart said this was a perfect example of how he races.
“He doesn’t know how to defend or be on the back foot. Straight away, even in yellow, everyone attacking him and he attacks everyone else. That is just his style, so fair play to him.”
The Cycling Ulster rider went into the event as one of the big favourites and immediately impressed, winning stage one in a big bunch sprint into Horse and Jockey. He also rode strongly on stage two, even if he missed a key break which enabled Sutton to gain time and take over as race leader.
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Teggart launched a big attack on the steep climb of Crags Cave, dropping the rest of the peloton in a bid to limit his losses. A big fightback was expected but with the remaining stages flatter and the Banbridge rider unable to break the elastic, he ultimately finished one minute 40 seconds back in fifth overall.
It was the flattest Rás Tailteann in years and that didn’t play to his strengths. Asked what complicated things for him, he agreed the course profile didn’t give him as much scope as he would have liked, but also suggested a different factor.
“I think the course wasn’t best suited to me, as such. Any opportunities in the hills where there was to take time, I did take time.
“But in hindsight, I think, to be honest my biggest mistake was to win the first stage and going into those hilly stages in yellow. And not being able to be so aggressive and being so marked out of it.
“If I was able to slip about a wee bit more in the later stages, I think I could have had a bit of the better GC result. But obviously I am a racer so if a stage opportunity comes I am going to take it. That’s bike racing, as such.”
Teggart hoped to finish things off in style by bookending his race with another stage win. He did indeed win the bunch sprint, but missed out on the victory as Kevin McCambridge (Britain Trinity Racing) had gone clear with a little over ten kilometres to go and fended off the chase behind.
“I was extremely frustrated,” he said. “I knew I would have a good chance at this finish on this circuit. And the plan was if it was
together coming into the laps, to go for the sprint. But fair play to Kevin, he was aggressive all week and he finally pulled it off. I am delighted for Kevin but obviously a bit frustrated that we couldn’t pull it back.”
Teggart is clearly in very good shape and will now turn his attention to the Irish national championships this week. He said that he will miss Thursday’s time trial as he hasn’t spent enough time riding the TT bike this year. Instead he is concentrating everything on Sunday.
“Definitely the road race will be a target. It is a big target. I’m not sure what I’ll have in July at the minute, but hopefully the
Commonwealth Games and the European championships, and then possibly the Tour of Britain at the end of the year.
“So there’s plenty still to look forward to. Hopefully this week will stand to me…a good stage race should always do that.”
