Now in his third season with An Post-Chainreaction, Sean Downey says he is a lot more consistent this year, feels he has worked hard and is going well and wants a result in the Rás. Seen here (in green) in last year's race.
By Brian Canty
Ireland's Sean Downey will start his fourth An Post Rás tomorrow and the Banbridge rider, with the An Post Chainreaction team, says these “eight-day sufferfests” never get easier.
Now in his third season with his team, Downey has just returned from a spell of racing at the Tour of Azerbaijan. But because he came down with a bout of food poisoning there he was not able to acquit himself as he would have liked.
Still, he is on the mend and very much looking forward to getting stuck in again next week.
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"I’m okay, I had a bit of food poisoning at the start in Azerbaijan, I'm just over it today, I'm feeling a bit better," he said.
"Azerbaijan was savage racing, really hard. It was a 2.1 (UCI-ranked race) and I knew it would be hard. There was no really strong teams there to control it, so it was just very hard and full-on every day."
Downey has been improving every year, which gives him confidence for what he can do at the An Post Rás.
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"I have a few top 15s in 1.1 races this year, I seem to be a lot more consistent and I’m very happy the way things have gone so far in the season.
"I’d like to think there’s a result around the corner because I’ve been putting in the hard work to try and get results, so if everything can fall into place I can pull it off.
"We’ve got a good strong team going to Ireland and we’re all getting along really well together so we should be a good week of racing."
When pushed on what exactly he can do he said: “I need to see how I feel after getting sick. If the team need me to help out I’ll help out. I’d like to do really well but I need to see how I am.
"The Rás doesn't get easier; it gets harder every time you wear this An Post jersey. You can’t move an inch in the Rás with the Post jersey on because everyone knows with the sponsor that it’s a race we want to do well in.
"So you have to take it as eight one-day races, anything can happen, it’s so hard to control so you have to take it day by day."
With the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, Sean Downey will be eying both road and track selection and a good Rás would get him picked.
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