Daire Feeley said being followed around by riders only interested in the county rider classification was like an "anchor" on the Rás (Photo: Toby Watson)
By Shane Stokes
Daire Feeley won the Rás Tailteann four years ago with a stream of aggressive performances and is taking exactly the same approach this time around, lighting up stage 2 on Thursday, in particular, with a long range move.
But he has told stickybottle he believes some of the Irish riders are only concerned with the 'county rider' classification and were marking him heavily, following him around, rather than doing their own race against the rest of the field.
The Clare: Burren CC rider went up the road very early on during the 192.7km stage 2 from Rathmore to Banteer and was still in the thick of the action in the finale, making it into other selections closer to the line. He finished in a group - the remains of the peloton - some 1:20 down on today's stage 4 into Enniscorthy.
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“I’d say I was away about 160k,” he told stickybottle of stage 2 on Thursday. “I had great legs.”
He confirmed that the yellow jersey rather than the stage win was what was really motivating him during the stage. Having one the Rás in 2022, he’d dearly love to do it again.
“I knew I just had to keep on the gas all day. I knew that if I could be away going into the final 20 percent of the stage, even if the guys were in the bunch behind me I knew they would be tired,” he said. “I nearly got dropped on the final KOM, it was full gas. But I hung on in there.”
Feeley ultimately lost out inside the final 10k, with the 12 man break splitting in half and six riders pushing forward. Tim Shoreman (UK: Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli) won the stage ahead of Irish duo Willem O’Connor (Cork: O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and Conn McDunphy (USA: APS Pro Cycling), with Feeley coming in as part of the chase group 47 seconds back.
He believes he could well have been in the first group had the pattern of the racing worked out slightly differently.
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“I just got caught out coming into the finish there. It’s not that I wasn’t strong enough to be there, I was just waiting for the next wheel to go and it just never went,” he said. “And then the gap went.
"But yeah, I am very happy with it. But still, it could have been more.. A big energy expenditure for a small bit of return, but not the return I wanted.
“Knowing me I will end up giving it a go again,” he smiled, before pointing out that others are not as fully committed as he is once up the road.
“It is just frustrating when you have a lot of guys sitting in the bunch, me riding there for yellow and then you have (others) just concerned about the blue county rider jersey.
“It is a pain in the ass because it is more of an anchor to slow you down more than anything when riders just follow you around the place. But look, we are here for the yellow jersey and we will keep on fighting until the final day, so we will.”
What is a big takeaway from Thursday is that being up the road all day has underlined that he has hit form at exactly the right time.
He agreed that he is in the right shape.
“I felt there were times there when the power was coming. I know the yellow jersey got across to us and then I rode him off my wheel on the climb,” he said.
“Then when it all came back together they attacked the bunch from behind straight away. But I managed to get onto them. I just needed 20 seconds of recovery and I got it and we were away.”
