By Shane Stokes
Team managers Martyn Irvine and Barry Monaghan have spoken ambitiously and with optimism in the countdown to those races at the European road championships where Ireland have the best chances of medals.
Irvine, a former world champion on the track, and Monaghan, a former international road rider turned manager and coach, told stickybottle they believe the Irish teams - especially in the men's and women's U23 races - can play a major part in their races.
“All the lads are motivated. We have good condition,” Irvine told stickybottle. “We’ve proven all year that we’re actually competitive in the under 23 ranks and we are really up it. We have all the cards to play, from flag to finish. We’re confident we can compete in the race.
Advertisement
“If everything goes our way with luck—it’s a very technical circuit and depending on the weather, etcetera—but if the cards go our way we’ve a medalling team. We’re all looking forward to it.”
The team will be led by Darren Rafferty and Dean Harvey, who finished a fine 12th and 13th in the under 23 time trial on Wednesday. They will be joined by Kevin McCambridge, Jamie Meehan and Odhran Doogan in Friday's road race event.
While the time trial course was pan flat and didn’t suit Rafferty and Harvey, things will be very different for the team in Friday’s 137km race. This starts in Hoogeveen and takes in six ascents of the steep Col du Vam climb, including an uphill sprint to the line.
Related News
“The course is brutal,” Irvine said. “From the recce I did earlier in the year and looking at maps and stuff, there are two little bumps in it. They’ve then added on an extra berg that’s not on any of the GPX files or anything and it’s a brutal circuit. It’s absolutely brutal. It’s a small group finish. It’s never going to be a bunch sprint, it won’t even be 20 man coming on the line. It’s so hard.
“I don’t know how to explain it, it’s kind of feels like a roller coaster driving around the circuit. There’s a cobble section before the top of the first climb. You go down, you go back up again over the start/finish line, you go down, you go back up again over the hardest third climb. I didn’t get any elevation off it or anything but it’s an absolute berg-fest, it’s up and down, up and down, up and down. It’ll be a very small group finish and small amount of finishers.”
Rafferty is the obvious one to watch, given his victory this year in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta – Mont Blanc plus second overall in the Giro Next Gen, the under 23 Giro d’Italia. But Harvey’s time trial performance is very encouraging too.
There are high hopes too for the under 23 women’s race on Friday afternoon, where Lara Gillespie teams up with sisters Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien. This is 108 km in length, again completing six ascents of the Col du Vam, but with a shorter run in to that circuit.
Women’s team manager Barry Monaghan is, like Irvine, upbeat.
“Three starters with Lara Gillespie, Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien. We feel very positive at the minute with our chances. Obviously Lara will be our main goal with the form she’s shown, the races she’s riding and the capacity she has. So we are all in for Lara.”
In February Gillespie won European under 23 titles on the track in the points race and omnium. She was also runner-up in the 1.1-ranked GP Eco-Struct in May and the Poreč Trophy Ladies in March.
“The circuit suits her, all three saw it,” Monaghan said of their recon yesterday. “We are in a confident, upbeat mood. Fingers crossed we will get a big afternoon.”
