Having emerged as one of Ireland's best elite riders in recent years, winning the Irish TT title along the way, Conn McDunphy has returned to the domestic scene following the closure of Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing at the end of last season. However, while many returning riders disappear, often giving up racing completely, McDunphy's love for competition hasn't diminished while he has also opened his own coaching business.
He has been one of the dominant forces in the thick of the action since the drop of the flag at the start of the month; getting in the moves and forcing the pace. And last Friday he took his first win of 2023, the Bobby Power Memorial, after a near 90km two-up breakaway with Paul Kennedy (Burren CC)) in wet conditions in Carrick-on-Suir, during which he produced his third best one-hour power.
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McDunphy is one of those Irish riders - and there are others, Dillon Corkery and Daire Feeley included - who would very likely now be riding for ProContinental teams if they were French, Italian on Spanish. But the 26-year-old Lucan CRC man is not despondent. He is determined to race as hard as he can at home this year, and is likely to do damage in the biggest events. He is also already planning a trip to compete on the US pro scene in coming months - paid for by his supporters in Ireland, which he says he was "blown away" by.
He told stickybottle as EvoPro Racing shut up shop quite late last year - amid continued efforts to stay afloat - he had no choice but to race at home this year. He is also now combining his racing with working part-time as a quantity surveyor and is also running his own coaching company, Pedal Graft.
"So I'm keeping busy, I'm working 2pm until 6pm, sometimes a bit after, so I can train in the morning. I'm not giving up, I'm trying to see how good I can be," he said. "And that's kinda the reason behind my trip to America next month to ride Tour of Redlands and Tour de Gila.
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"They're races that I've read about and I wanted to do them. So I have the opportunity now. Cormac Mcgeough got me a guest ride on a team called SoCal Cycling, an elite team out there."
In order to fund the trip, McDunphy ran an online crowdfund campaign. He said he was in two minds about going ahead but in the end raised just over €2,500 and was "in awe at how generous people were". "I didn't think people cared, so that was really nice to see," he said.
He is now preparing for his racing on a self-coached basis but has other experienced figures - including EvoPro co-founder Morgan Fox - checking over his plans as a second opinion.
"I'm harder on myself than any coach would be so the important thing is to make sure I get enough rest," he said. "So something I have started to do this year is having a day off every Friday, no matter what. That was Morgan's idea. And it doesn't matter if I'm racing the next day or not, I put the bike away and don't look at it. That's something that's really helped."
He said the break once a week was good for his mental and physical condition, though said he had trained hard over the winter - including a stint in Girona - still hoping he would get a European team to race with.
He believed taking that break once a week would help him sustain his focus and condition through the season. "The goal, ultimately, is the Rás and the nationals and then we'll see after that," he said.
