In Koolskamp, West Flanders, Dillon Corkery lined up in a race for the first time as a World Tour rider on Friday, at Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (1.1). It was the realisation of a dream well over a decade in the making.
Now aged 26 years, he was making his debut for Picnic PostNL, and told stickybottle he had talks with several big teams and that one wanted to sign him immediately, in the summer, so he could ride the Vuelta. Being in demand like that was a far cry from the lean and difficult times, of which there have been many for the Corkman known as 'Dinky'.
"I wouldn't say it was a major shock because I'd worked fucking hard enough for it," he said of finally making his World Tour team debut. "It's always what I dreamt of doing, going World Tour. If it didn't happen for me… there would have been a lot of 'what ifs' and now I'm looking forward for what's to come.
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"Next is Tour de Langkawi, that'll be next weekend. Looking back now, I was done (with cycling) back in 2023, I was finished. I said goodbye to everyone (in France) and I was gone.
"I had a cracking season in 2022 in terms of UCI races, so many times in the top five or 10 in big races. I had a cracking year. Again there was a lot of talk (and about a pro contract) but nothing came about."
He said in the rankings compiled of the French elite teams by the Direct Velo website, he was the highest-ranked rider for a number of months that summer.
"And then I didn't get a contract, and I just couldn't understand it. It cracked me. And I said to myself 'if it didn't happen this year, it's never going to happen'. So I went back home I said my goodbyes to everybody (in CC Étupes) and that was that."
However, after a holiday in the US with his girlfriend, a lot of people urged him to go back to the team in France. They included his former sports director at CC Étupes, Melvin Rullière, his family and Cycling Ireland's Neil Delahaye. More on Delahaye in a moment.
Rullière tried to put together a good package for Corkery to return to the team in 2023, which he did; riding very strongly and progressing to UCI Continental team, St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 last year and again in 2025.
In this spring the results came thick and fast. Now the big teams were interested. He spoke to all of them. Picnic PostNL were the first to put a solid contract on the table and Corkery went for it. At last, he had something to show for the years of toil; a place at the big table.
He'll be a lead-out man but he will also get his opportunity to ride major races without lead-out duties including, he hopes, Paris-Roubaix.
It all comes after a prolonged, still undiagnosed, issue with a sensitive stomach, resulting in cramps during races that have held him back. After his very strong start to the season, when taking a supplement appeared to stop his stomach problems, and related cramping, he then crashed at La Route Adélie de Vitré (1.1) in April and "everything then went downhill".
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"I'd no appetite for three or four months, I was living off smoothies because I couldn't eat," he said. He then fell ill having gone to Denmark to make his debut for Picnic PostNL in August and the team doctor ruled him out of the race.
When Rudi Kemna, head coach of the team, saw how ill Corkery was, he reassured him they would find the problem and resolve it.
"The doctors said if this is that way you've been feeling for the last couple of months or years, you've got massive untapped potential that we're yet to see. So for the future it looks really promising if we can figure out this problem."
He expects to act as lead-out man on the new team and did lead-out for Casper van Uden in both Gooikse Pijl (1.1) and Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (1.1) at the weekend. However, they became detached in the final, meaning they came away empty-handed.
Looking ahead, he is hopeful of also riding some of the big classics, including races like Paris-Roubaix, as well as his lead-out duties. Now having made his first appearances for a World Tour team, Corkery is 26-years-old, which is a few years on most riders making their debut.
Late World Tour debut, aged 26 years
He said while his age was raised in his talks with teams earlier this year, it was not an issue. Indeed, many of the teams saw it as an asset as they knew he was very experienced and would not need "educating".
"I've been around a lot," he said. "And some of the teams I've spoken to, they wanted to get me signed immediately, for the Vuelta, for the end of the season. So some teams were really keen on having somebody with experience, with everything that falls from being a 26-year-old.
"And I think it helps, to be honest. Obviously at some of the meetings my age came up. And the question was whether or not I still had potential to develop. And I told them that I didn't think I was even close, that I had way more room to develop. And I think at 29 or 30, I can really motor at that age."
Corkery was supported by his family - who encouraged him to keep going when he was inclined to stop - as well as Rullière at CC Étupes and the staff at St Michel-Mavic-Auber93. He is also very thankful to Neill Delahaye and Iain Dyer, both leading figures on the high performance side in Cycling Ireland.
Delahaye is Cycling Ireland's head coach and though he was a nominee for the RTÉ Manager of the Year award, he is not a coach who seeks out attention, including in the media.
However, his name crops up again and again in interviews with riders. And Corkery said the one downside of moving to the World Tour is that he loses the chance to retain Delahaye as coach - as teams have their own staff.
"Del is a bit of everything, he's like a brother to me really, the way we get on," said Corkery. "He's been my coach but he's more of a mentor really. With the way things have gone for me a couple of times with, the stomach problem, he's brought me back into a good place. He's been very, very good to me."
