One of the real characters of Irish cycling, Aidan Crowley is a former U12 champion and at the weekend won the Masters 40 national road race title in Omagh (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile. Homepage photo by David McVeigh - The Belgian Project)
By Brian Canty
Aidan Crowley won gold in the Masters 40 race at the National Road Championships in Omagh on Saturday but the Cork man admitted he only decided to do the race at the last minute.
A seasoned campaigner on the Irish road scene, Crowley said had the race not taken place at 2pm, he'd have skipped it as he was too busy.
But after watching and waiting to make his move all day, he hit out in the final few hundred metres and launched a vicious race-winning sprint that no one could match.
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And true to the humility that has made him one of the really popular men of Irish cycling, Crowley actually felt bad for "taking the win" from those who attacked all day long.
"It's unexpected, I didn't even know if I would do the race on Friday," he said.
Looking pretty pleased with himself on the podium after his sprint win (Photo: Sean Rowe)
"I was in Cork and I said 'shaggit I'm going to go'. But I was so busy with work I wasn't sure.
"I did the Mondello race Tuesday night and the Stephen Roche GP on Wednesday.
"I was working down in Cork Thursday and Friday so to get to Omagh for Saturday meant driving to Dublin, getting a couple of hours' sleep and then onto Omagh.
"If it was at 11am I wouldn't have been able to go but a 2pm start gave me a chance."
The race was absolutely flat-out from the start with the big favourites going at it hammer and tongs to get away.
Crowley opted to mind his matches because he knew his best chance of winning was to wait and gamble on it coming down in a sprint.
"I took it off Keith and Swinand and Martin who did all the riding and all the attacking," he said in reference to how Keith Gater (Waterford Racing Team), Greg Swinand (Aquablue) and Martin O'Loughlin of Carrick Wheelers.
"Keith must have attacked 50 times but I just decided I'm a sprinter and I would gamble.
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"There was a lovely four-man move with Martin O'Loughlin and Dermot Radford that got away with a couple of laps to go and it was a strong move. They're very good cyclists, Radford wins A1 races.
"I just thought 'fair play, I'm sprinting for fifth here. But on the last lap our bunch was really active.
“Joe (Fenlon), Keith and Greg were driving it and the group was thinning down; I think I stayed 11th or 12th man all day, waiting..."
Coming into the finish, Crowley started to move up into position, diving into the last corner so fast he almost crashed.
"My sprint was to the bend," he recalled. "I nearly didn't take the bend I hit it so quickly.
"My sprint was into the corner; if someone came around me I'd have said 'fair play'.
"I hit it so hard, if someone stayed with me...I think Fitzy (Micheál Fitzgerald) would have been the only guy to come around me but he's only coming back and probably doesn't have the endurance.
"I really almost crashed and that would have been ugly at that speed."
He held it upright and had the momentum with him.
And though crossing the line first isn't something new to Crowley, it still means as much as it did when he started cycling 30 years ago.
"I'm very elated; to win a race is incredibly hard now.
"There are so many good cyclists in Ireland who train bloody hard and I respect every one of them.
"I think this win is for my parents and people close to me because this means as much to them; they're probably happier than I am."
Having sat out the An Post Rás this year, some feared he might be coming to the end of his glittering career, but those suggestions can be promptly binned.
"I'm not going anywhere. Maybe my time in the Rás is coming to an end. I've ridden it 18 times and always wanted to win a stage.
"I got 6th but I'd say I wouldn't get 16th now. I was never good enough to win a stage. It’s just so bloody hard to do, you know?"
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