Conor Dunne (far right on the front) in an early escape on his way to a stage win and yellow jersey on the opening stage of the An Post Rás (Photo: www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
By Gerard Cromwell
In Longford
Minutes after snatching his first ever An Post Rás stage win from under the noses of much bigger teams, Conor Dunne was surrounded by his Tipperary Iverk Produce teammates a few metres past the finish line.
Bikes were thrown on the ground, and screams of euphoria accompanied scenes of back slapping, hand shaking and hugging as the Tipperary crew came to realise that Dunne had not only won the stage but had taken the yellow jersey of race leader in the process.
“Unreal,” is how team manager Paul Lonergan described the victory.
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“I’m speechless at the moment. In 1992, (the late) Bobby Power won the first stage into Carrick-On-Shannon, in the same part of the country. Over the years we’ve had Sam Bennett winning a stage, Ciaran Power winning two stages for us.”
“I was thinking last night, if that happened this week it would be just amazing. It happened today and we have a yellow jersey as well tomorrow, which is fabulous. It’s a great achievement to get an Irish rider up there, with the calibre of the pros that are here.”
Having been active in two earlier breakaway groups on the 136km opening stage, Dunne found himself out front with just Kiwi rider Michael Northey (Node4 Girodana) for company in the final 20km.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, the duo worked well together to open up a minute’s lead on the peloton in the final 10km and despite a late chase by the sprinters’ teams, managed to keep 23 seconds advantage at the line, where Dunne romped to stage glory.
“When Northey went, I went after him but I didn’t think anything was going to come of it,” said a euphoric Dunne.
“But the gap went up to a minute and I was feeling really, really good. My legs just came around and we were working really well together. When the gap was still a minute inside a kilometre to go, my legs were just so good I had it, I knew it. I just believed in myself, I let him lead it out and knew I had the jump. I’m so happy.”
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“This is unbelievable,” laughed teammate John Dempsey.
“We haven’t won a senior race all year and to win the first stage of the Ras is just mind-blowing. It’s great for the club and for our sponsors Iverk Produce. They support us a lot but they’re not just supporting the Ras team. They support the whole club.”
“We have 40 people racing from under 12s all the way up to seniors, so for an actual genuine club to get this is unbelievable. The week has been a success now. The year has been a success!”
With Dunne in yellow, the Tipperary squad of Martin Mizgajski, Mike Fitzgerald, Michael Lucey and Dempsey will be expected to control tomorrow’s stage in defence of their race lead, but according to the former Rás Mumhan winner they’ll be getting a rude awakening.
“They’ll be looking alright, but they mightn’t see us. You might see us for a while. The pros will be saying to themselves tomorrow that the yellow jersey’s team is going to control it. Well, four lads who have to go to work on Monday morning now have to ride for the yellow jersey tomorrow, so he might have to do it on his own,” laughed Dempsey.
“We’ll try our best. He’s obviously flying, going like a motorbike. He said he was going to lie low for the first three days so I can’t wait to see him when he decides to get aggressive and not lie low! We could be in for a very good week.”
At six feet, eight inches tall, Dunne proved head and shoulders above the rest today but with a four second lead over Northey going into tomorrow’s stage, he seemed unperturbed by thoughts of a possible defence of the race lead on the way to Nenagh.
“I’ve got good legs, but this has made my Rás,” he admitted.
“I just want to enjoy this now. I’ve been going well this season but just didn’t get the luck. I’ve been in Belgium the last two seasons riding a lot of hard races, chipping away. It’s tough but I really, really enjoy it.”
“My team were saying that it just needed to come together and I’d get a good win and now I’ve got it. I’ve been having a bit of tough luck this season and it feels so good to win this. I’m still going to be aggressive. You have to ride aggressively in this race, that’s what suits me, but I’m so, so happy. I’m speechless.”
