A reflective Martyn Irvine has opened up about a tough year, his doubts and his hope that he can get back to where he once was; like winning World Championship gold in Minsk last year, above.
By Brian Canty
From the high of a silver medal at the World Championships in February to the low of breaking his collar bone at the UCI World Cup in Mexico last month; it’s been another trying year for Martyn Irvine.
Recently signed for UK-based Continental team Madison Genesis; that move will allow him maintain his track commitments as well as keep him closer to home.
“There was the crash in the European Championships in October and that was the start of my downhill slide,” said the most decorated championship rider in the history of Irish cycling.
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“And the (crash) that broke me was Mexico and it was the clumsiest crash you’ll ever see.
"I’ve looked at it on video; it was just slow, over the handlebars. It probably wasn’t even 20mph.
“But I landed right on my arm and I just cracked my collar bone at the end.
Irvine has suggested he lost sight of the fact the time events suited him better; like the individual pursuit.
"It was sticking out of my skin suit so I knew I was in trouble.
“And I just had a horrible sinking feeling because that was at the start of the Olympic qualifying campaign; so not what I wanted.”
Irvine, along with wife Grace, moved to the US this year and based himself in Colorado.
He was contracted to the Unitedhealthcare squad, a team with a focus on criterium racing.
“The year started off great, we moved to Colorado where I tried the road pro crit scene but it was snowing.
“That meant I had to train indoors on the turbo trainers and I was cracking myself,” he explained.
“But I think I knew then, honestly, I was on a slippery slope and the with crit scene I was just sliding downhill.
Winning a fantastic stage 7 of the Rás in 2011. While a fantastic result, his success since then has made it a mere footnote in his palmares (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho)
“So I’m kind of cracked with this year, I just can’t do anything right. And even when I am doing something right there’s a curve ball thrown at me.
“Like the European Championships where I crashed; I just rode into the guys in the team, whoever was lying in front of me.
“And then Mexico the same thing, so I’m just in a bad patch.”
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The Commonwealth Games earlier in the summer were more of the same for Irvine.
He notched a lowly 14th in the scratch race and a DNF in the points race after he pulled out with 73 of the 160 laps remaining.
It was a far cry from the gold and silver medals he won in those events in Minsk less than 18 months earlier.
But he says he’s learned a lot from those Games and subsequent disappointments.
“Me against the clock; best man wins, that’s what I was good at and I got slack with that.
Champ: Irvine with the World Championships scratch race gold medal he won in Minsk last year; he feels he can get back on top if he gets a run without the bad luck that has hit him this year.
"I thought winning the scratch worlds and (silver in the) points race and then a scratch medal in February even; I thought I could do the same again but the Commonwealth Games are a different scene.
"It’s team-based so that really got hammered home when I was there. I don’t know if I was as fit as I thought but the outcome was brutal.”
With the Irish track team now awash with new blood, Irvine admits he’s feeling like a veteran around the likes of young guns like Cormac Clarke, Thomas Fallon, Sean Downey, Ryan Mullen and Javan Nulty.
“I don’t know how I’m fitting in,” he remarked.
“They’re all young guys so I’m teaching them a little bit. But it’s a weird dynamic because I’m thinking ‘I want to do that, I want to do that’,” he said in reference to individual races.
“But I can’t because I’ve to do the team pursuit, so that’s new to me. But it’s good; it’s good for me.
“It draws me out a bit more on the road spins. So I’m going to bite my lip and see how that goes in the next few months.
“(I’ll) see how I feel and where I am in the next couple of months and the next World Championships; see if I’m good at it or not.
“But it’s good having the whole buzz there. There’s four or five lads; young guys floating around. They’re loving cycling.
“And I feel like the old granddad with a bust hip and a broken collar bone limping around!”
Due to turn 30 years next June, he still has the appetite to compete. And he very much has the drive to stay going until Rio.
“I just know I wasn’t even there the last few weeks and months but I keep saying ‘I have been there, I can do it, I can beat those guys’.
“I just know when I get a clear run at it; I get my race weight down, a good run of fitness without any obstacles. I know I can be right up there.
“So that’s the only thing that’s keeping me going, it’s not because I like breaking bones. So it’s definitely knowing I have the ability that keeps me going.”
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