"Winning this jersey makes my season; it means the winter, the sacrifices were worth it"

Chris Reilly crosses the finish line at the top of The Nire ascent despondent, thinking he had blown his lead in the climbers' classification (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Chris Reilly has said claiming the king of the mountains jersey at the Suir Valley Three-Day has made his year after a number of near misses and just one victory so far in 2014, coming at the Ballivor GP.

Reilly (Liquidworx-Fitscience) went into the weekend with high hopes of a top final overall placing. But after dropping out of the break on Saturday’s opening stage he knew he had to readjust his goals.

He then took the polka dot jersey on Sunday morning’s second stage and successfully defended it through the crit – where he just had to stay upright because there were no climbing points – and also on yesterday’s final stage.

“It was brilliant, I was delighted to get the jersey because it was all I could go for since Saturday evening,” the Meath man said.

“To actually win it and hold onto it was brilliant and I was over the moon but I couldn’t have done it without the team.

“I thought I lost it yesterday,” he continued.

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“I thought I didn’t do enough on the two climbs of the Vee and the Pike and I was just empty on the final climb of the Nire and I blew.

“I was so disappointed crossing the line because the effort the team put in to try to defend it and get me in the right position was huge and I felt I let them down. I was annoyed thinking I had lost it. But then when I found I won it by a point it was unreal.

“It makes my year. All the work you do in the winter and all the training and sacrifice you make, this makes it worthwhile.”

Reilly reserved special praise for teammate Patrick Clarke, who put in some especially big turns to reel in those closest to his team mate in the climbers’ jersey.

“On the Vee he was unreal, he had to do a big effort to get me to the front to close down Seb Bayliss (Champion System Maxgear) who was in second,” said Reilly of Clarke.

“He had to get me up there and only for him blocking the wind for me I wouldn’t have been able to go for the sprint and he was there again on the second climb.

“It was a great weekend and it’s all thanks to the whole team. They were a pleasure to work with again; our manager and coach Derek (Bowyer) and Simon (Walsh) and Simon’s sons and were there for us all weekend and we wanted for nothing.”