Chris Dawson and Darren Rafferty, the silver and bronze medal winners in the men's race at the National Cyclocross Championships today, despite crashes, have offered honest appraisals of their performances and the level that Dean Harvey, the winner, has been at this season.
While Dawson, who won the title last year, has turned his attentions more to MTB XC and eRacing of late, he said he was in better shape today than when he won the Irish title 12 months ago. Harvey had simply taken the cyclocross discipline up a level this season, he believed.
Rafferty, while a little disappointed with his ride today, echoed Dawson's view, saying Harvey was the best rider in the field today, and the best the year. He believed his 19-year-old Trinity Racing rival deserved to come away from these championships with the gold medal and the champion's jersey.
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The riders may have been competing on a course the knew well - McCrystal Track, Jenkinstown, Co Louth - but a heavy hail shower just before the start, followed by rain during the event, meant conditions were unpredictable and challenging.
"It was a tricky one," Dawson confirmed at the finish after riding in 3rd place for a long time before catching and passing Rafferty to finish 2nd. "When we started I felt a little bit like Bambi it was so slippery compared to practice. So the first lap was a case of just trying to settle into it, and then I had a bit of a crash.
"I tried to settle into a good pace and then chase down (Rafferty) and thankfully I managed to close him down. He had a bit of a crash, and that's where I managed the pass him and just hold the gap."
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Dawson made the switch to MTB XC last year and competed in the Commonwealth Games in the discipline. He has also created his own Dawson Racing team for eRacing this year. However, he did not believe that new focus, somewhat away from cyclocross, had taken him out of contention for a second cyclocross gold medal today.
"To be honest, I don't think it's affected my performance that much. I'm probably in better shape now that I was this time last year when I won. And I think Dean has just lifted the level this year. So hats off to him, he rode a blinder and I can't complain with 2nd. I did all I could."
In the case of Rafferty, the Hagens Berman Axeon rider had gotten closer to Harvey's standard in recent weeks and some wondered if he might really push him today and perhaps even beat him. For example, Harvey comfortably won the first three rounds of the Cyclocross National Series only for Rafferty to go close to beating him in the fourth round last weekend.
And while suffering a crash didn't help Rafferty's cause today, he wasn't looking for excuses, saying Harvey simply deserved to win.
"The race was good overall, I got off to a solid start and I couldn't really complain," Rafferty said. "I was happy with how I was going. The conditions, with the hailstones beforehand and then the rain coming on… things got slippy and quite technical. And there was a lot more running than there had been in practice .But I enjoy the race and the best two riders were first and second, I can't complain with third.
"I was hoping to be there, to be a bit closer at least for a bit longer than I was today. But it just wasn't my day and Dean was by far the strongest rider all season. He deserves the champs win. I think it panned out how everybody expected, but I'm just a bit disappointed."
