With the dust barely settled on a packed weekend of racing over the Easter Bank Holiday, many of the top riders in the country do it all again at the Tour of Ulster this weekend. Here stickybottle picks and profiles the riders we think will have a big say this weekend.
A late addition to the Cycling Ulster line-up, Marcus Christie rides this weekend on a break from racing in Belgium with An Post-Chainreaction.
Marcus Christie – Cycling Ulster
A late addition to the Cycling Ulster line-up for this weekend, Marcus Christie returned to form with a bang last year after many seasons blighted with injury. In set some sizzling times against the watch through the season and also put in a notably good ride at the Suir Valley Three Day.
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His reward was not only selection for the U23 time trial at the World Road Championships in Florence last year but also a place on the An Post-Chainreaction team for the current season.
He races this weekend on a break at home from his base in Belgium and also rode the Tour of the North the weekend before last where he won the time trial stage. With no test this weekend, he’ll be looking to make an impression on the road stages and if things went his way he’s a potential stage and overall winner.
The man with the big engine; Bryan McCrystal is just one of a number of potential stage and overall winners among Tim Barry's Aquablue squad.
Bryan McCrystal/Damien Shaw/Sean Lacey/Joe Fenlon/Dylan Foley – Aquablue
Put simply, any one of the above can win the overall here. McCrystal and Foley both won stages at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan recently, Shaw and Lacey are previous winners of that race and are two of the most feared riders in the country while Fenlon is the reigning Tour of Ulster champion and certainly won’t want to relinquish his crown too easily.
So, as usual, it’ll boil down to who makes the crucial splits and the Cork-based team will be hoping to get at least two men in every move to keep their options open for as long as possible.
That’s why they’ll start the race as favourites – and with Robin Kelly, Keith Gater and Maurice Lawlor riding in the colours of the Waterford Racing team, they’ve the strength in depth to really impact the race. No other team possesses such an array of talent and at the very least, they’ll look for a stage win or two, and a jersey or two. Dylan Foley will be one of the hot favourites to take the U23 jersey.
A winner already several times this season; Conor Murphy has done well in this race before and is more than capable of winning it (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)
Conor Murphy – Caldwell Cycles
Won a brilliant stage from Matt Higgins (Node 4 Giordana) back in 2012 and was second overall following that, though his team mate Adam Armstrong would eventually take the yellow jersey.
Murphy has won the Phoenix GP and the McCann Cup already this year while placing in a host of other big events and with Noel Collins, Paul Mulligan and Thomas Martin for support, he’s definitely one who can’t be given much rope.
He was eighth overall at 1’ 40” last year and will look to go better than that this time around – Sunday’s 80-mile stage is one he’ll love the look of.
Roger Aiken – Kinning Cycles
The Dromore man makes his first start of the 2014 road racing scene and after finishing second overall last year, taking a stage win and the polka dot jersey it would be foolhardy to dismiss him again, even if he says he hasn’t done much training.
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The National Cyclocross champion and former FBD Rás stage winner is a phenomenal talent and will be followed everywhere he goes this weekend. The harder the stage the better he performs and he has three really difficult, rolly stages to contend with this weekend – the type of terrain he just loves.
He hasn’t the same quality in his team as some of the other squads, but neither did he when he went close to winning the An Post Rás last year.
Cormac Clarke has transitioned from junior to U23 international over the past year and could surprise a few people this weekend (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Cormac Clarke – Cycling Ulster
The Irish U23 International was fifth overall last year and second in that classification behind a flying Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne).
The Newry man, who will ride for an Ulster Cycling selection this weekend, was third in the Wallace Caldwell Memorial behind Fraser Duncan and Adam Armstrong last month and fourth in the Connor Coombes Memorial in Drogheda a week previous. Injuries to Conor McIlwaine and Felix English saw him called up to the National team to ride two Nations Cups events Easter week and that boost of confidence will surely stand to him this weekend.
He is in a very strong team too in Gary Cranston, Craig McAuley, Ali Macaulay, Marc Potts and Daniel Stewart. Will push Foley for the U23 jersey.
Chris Reilly – Liquidworx-Fitscience
Took second to Roger Aiken here last year on the opening day when they, along with Timmy Barry (Aquablue) jumped away and got 30 seconds on the bunch.
Reilly, who usually comes into good form around now rode an excellent Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in service of team mate Paddy Clarke and was the Liquidworx-Fitscience team’s last man standing on the final day. He also took fourth on the opening day, when Cathal Moynihan (Tralee BC/Manor West won).
The Bohermeen man is an excellent climber and is equally adept on the flat and with the backing of four team mates who all have experience of riding the race, he could be a dark horse for the podium.
Mark Dowling on his way to outright victory at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan two weeks ago. Can he do the same this weekend? (Photo: Pat Doherty)
Mark Dowling – DID Dunboyne
The Kerry Group Rás Mumhan champion will be buoyed by the biggest win of his career two weeks ago and will definitely be a contender for the overall here again. The bunches are smaller, the roads are steeper and there’s more climbing than there was in Kerry, which will suit the DID Dunboyne man.
He has only raced the event twice in the past and his best stage result was fourth on the final stage, though he has been in the top 10 in several stages as well as taking a top in 2011.
The only worry for him is how closely he’ll be watched after what he did in Kerry.
Anthony Walsh – UCD CC
The Clontarf man has been threatening a big result all season and this could be the weekend where he finally delivers. He was second, again, to Bryan McCrsytal on the last stage of Rás Mumhan but did unbelievably well to make that four-man escaped that got away on the local laps of Killorglin, given how fast the race had been up to that point.
Again, the UCD CC team will travel up north in force and Walsh, who topped Cycling Ireland’s rankings for a spell this year already, could be their trump card.
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