By Shane Stokes
In the end it came down to a sprint between Adam Ward and Daire Feeley but those last 300 metres aside, there were a lot of factors behind Friday’s stage win for the Ireland National Team.
Tactics and motivation were a part of it, and so too choosing the right move to go with and, indeed, getting across to that move after the break had already gone. In his post-victory interview, Ward mentioned the help he received from teammate Rory Townsend in bridging across, saying that he had set him up to jump the gap.
Townsend gave his perspective to stickybottle after the finish.
“I am really, really happy for Adam. He said at the start of the day that he had good legs, so it was great that he was able to pull something off,” he said. “The break had actually gone and then he said to me, ‘ I reckon I can jump that.’ So we went to the front and I rode briefly and then basically fired him across the gap. He really earned his victory today, so I was super happy with him.
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“And we were all over it all day. So I’m really happy with the lads.”
Asked how much of the tactics were down to him, Townsend said that he had done some directing of the riders from the bike, but that the bridging was down to Ward himself.
“We tried to ride in the crosswinds over the Burren climb. That was initially my idea, my plan. But to be fair, it was Adam who wanted to get across to that move. It was his plan, as such, and then I sort of helped to execute it.
“Besides that, it's just about looking after the boys and trying to help them learn when to make their efforts and stuff like that.”
Martyn Irvine is the sporting director of the team and he told stickybottle what the original goals had been.
“We knew that road up over the Burren would be hard. The plan was to get either Paul [Antoine Hagan] or Adam (Ward) into the move. Well, most of the lads had free rein at the start, and maybe just keep Dean [well placed] and try and get that (mountains) jersey initially.
“But as the day went on it transpired that Adam had good legs. He got in the right move so we just backed him then, and he pulled it off. So it was great riding by himself.”
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Once Ward got across it was a matter of the break riding hard to build a solid advantage over the bunch. That duly happened, their advantage exceeding four minutes at one point, but another factor was the inability of race leader Louis Sutton and his Spain Brocar-Ale team to keep things in check.
“It didn't seem like a lot of cohesion all day,” Townsend said. “The Spanish team didn't seem to commit to the chase particularly well and it was sort of like the chase was happening in fits and starts, really. So yeah, that was that.
“We always had this plan to ride in the in the cross winds and try and split it, and then do that again on the Corkscrew climb. Once we hadn't split it I said to the lads, ‘right, we'll stop riding now because obviously we didn't want to bring Adam back either.’ So that was our sort of effort.
Ward and Daire Feeley (Cork All Human/Velo Revolution) got clear of the other chasers and knuckled down to staying away. They had shared reasons to fully commit, with Feeley going for yellow and Ward aiming for his first Rás stage victory.
“They both had a good reason to ride hard,” Irvine noted. “Daire got the yellow, Adam got the stage. I think it was an honest ride, there was no bargaining done. It was just ride hard to get some time, so it worked out well.”
The squad has been riding well in the race and now has Friday’s stage win, third and fourth overall with Ward and Townsend, plus the latter’s green jersey to spur them on.
Characteristically, Irvine is modest about what he has done, being quick to downplay his input into a strong day for the team.
“It is just satisfying,” he said, referring to his reaction to the stage win, the points jersey and third and furth in the general classification. “I didn’t do anything. I just sat in the car all day. The guys did the bike riding.
“We had a bit of a chat about the plan and we just let them back themselves. When you give them a good education they have the legs to do it. It is really good. They do all the work, I just sit and nod and say yes. It is really good to see.”
Looking at the two remaining stages, both Irvine and Townsend said that having riders in contention would be a strength.
“We will have to look at how the GC is shaping up,” Townsend said when asked about the tactics for stages four and five. “I managed to clip away at the end and move myself up a little bit, I think, but we'll see how it looks. Besides that, it's just looking for some more stages.”
Irvine sees opportunities. “The good thing is we have a lot of cards to play. Rory will be there, Adam will be there, Dean is still sniffing around the King of the Mountains jersey. Adam will be up in it as well. So it will be a good day tomorrow and the next few days.”
