Martyn Irvine says he now has nothing to lose after coming close to getting across a key split on stage 4 today. Above, finishing the stage 2 on Monday (Photo: John Coleman – Dc Images)
By Brian Canty
Martyn Irvine’s chances of winning the An Post Rás ended in cruel fashion today when he came within 10 seconds of merging to the lead group before he and his team ran out of gas on the brutal stage five from Newport to Ballina.
The Madison Genesis man was caught on the wrong side of a split early in the 142-kilometre journey and with many of the leading general classification men up ahead he was forced into action.
But try as he might to get across, it wasn’t to be and he ended up losing over six minutes and slipping from third to ninth overall.
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“It’s kind of bitter because we were so close to getting back on,” said a rueful Irvine.
“We had them at 10 seconds at one point, you could have hit them with a bottle. But I just ran out of friends and at one crosswind they got organised up ahead and that was that. They were gone.”
Irvine had two teammates with him, Matt Holmes and Liam Holohan but “very few” gave help with the chase.
“I had all the team working for me and the Austrian team (Andreas Hofer - Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam) did a couple of turns but that was it really.
“I was very lonely for a while, very few people came forward.
“We were so close to making that juncture,” he continued.
“Our bunch went from 40 riders to 30 to 20 to 15 of us; I was doing big turns but I had to. I had to try.
“I don’t like to ask for favours. If riders want to sit there, fair enough.
"But those guys (who) wouldn’t commit to riding got stuck in the gutter and that’s what caused a few crashes; guys trying to be too cute. But c’est la vie.”
Irvine just missed the bus on Rás stage 5 today and slips down the standings. He is perhaps more dangerous now because of that (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
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The Newtownards man said he prefers not to think about what might have unfolded had they bridged.
“I’m trying not to think about it. Shoulda, woulda, coulda…
“If we’d have got there I might have sealed my position overall for the weekend but who’s to know?
“We could see them in front of us, 10 seconds and I thought ‘no panic, we’ll get it back’.
"But they were still there 10k later and the more exposed roads saw the gap go out.
“I think Kurt (Bogaerts - An Post Chainreaction team manager) went to the front and told them (An Post Chainreaction had four in the front) get the finger out and get organised!”
But upbeat as ever Irvine reckons he can now chase stage glory as he’s almost eight minutes down overall.
“Maybe I’ll get some leash to do what I want to do and win a stage," he explained.
“I’m just going to tell people (who chase) I don’t give a hoot about the race.
“The yellow jersey was chasing me down yesterday and I was thinking ‘fair point but just forget about me, I’m too fat and inconsistent to win the race’
“Saying that, it’s one of the best editions of the Rás I can remember.
“I’m happy, I’m recovering more; living the dream here a bit. I’m in one piece and tomorrow’s another day…”
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