By Shane Stokes
Having sent a text message confirming concussion after his crash on Rás Tailteann stage 3, Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution) was ruled out of the remainder of the race; the defence of his 2022 title coming to a very sudden halt just as this year's edition was taking shape.
Feeley hit the deck close to the finish line on stage three. By his reckoning it was 3.3 kilometres from the line, just 300 metres from the point where he would have automatically have been given the same finishing time as the stage winner. He ended up losing over eight minutes but, as things turned out, that was an irrelevance. His race was over as soon as he started to suffer some memory issues after his fall.
“I got a bang to the head, broke the bike and due to failing concussion tests. It’s a pity,” he said, speaking before the race had concluded on Sunday afternoon and the final general classification settled.
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“My sister’s a doctor. She’s keeping a close eye on me and I have to take her advice. I suppose if you said to me that you came off the bike and you banged your head, I’d be the first person saying to you that you need to take a bit of time off. So I need to take my own advice on board here now, and do the right thing.”
Feeley’s sense of perspective was striking. He’s 26 years of age but spoke on Saturday with the wisdom of someone far older, weighing things up, recognising disappointment but also seeing the big picture.
“Yesterday was emotional. I was sitting on the side of the road and I was crying, because I knew the race was over,” he said. “I knew that the body wasn’t right. I knew that we were outside the three K to go and I lost eight and a half minutes. And that kind of turned me off.
“I felt like…as I said to you at the beginning of the Rás, I came to the race to win. And once I knew that was over, I was like, ‘what’s the point?’ There’s been a lot of highs over the past number of years. It’s been very, very successful and, look, to be only getting that low now, I suppose it’s not a bad thing.”
What’s important is that he knows that other riders haven’t fared as well out of their accidents this week. He focuses on this rather than fixating on the fact that his big season goal was scuppered by his fall. Again, a sense of perspective. Again, the bigger picture.
“Look, I take it in my stride. It could be a lot worse,” he said. “I look around and I see a lot of lads cut up. A lot of lads unfortunately might not be able to go back to work on Monday or Tuesday morning. They’d be struggling to get on with life on top of that. Thankfully, I’m not in that position.
“It’s part of bike racing. We must understand that. Falling off a bike with 170 riders around you going down a road at 50 or 60k an hour…it’s going to happen at some point. And it just happened to me, unfortunately.
“Thankfully, there’s no Rás in the coming months, so I don’t have any major things to prepare for. Which is a good thing, it will allow me to switch off for a bit. I hope to be back as soon as possible, but that soon as possible will be when I’m healthy. And when I’m advised to go back.
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So yeah, look, chill out and go home and watch TV for a few evenings. And hopefully I can get a few days off work…” Feeley smiled, then continued. “I had an assignment due there for yesterday, 5000 words, but it was a good excuse to get an extension on it. Yeah, look, we are good.”
"I was absolutely trucking"
Philosophical acceptance aside, what happened on Friday is still a disappointment for Feeley, his family, his fans. Last June he reached the finish line at the end of the Rás’ third stage, sprinting in second behind breakaway companion Adam Ward (Ireland National Team). They had done enough for Feeley to wrest yellow from the shoulders of the Briton Louis Sutton (Spain Brocar-Ale). The Corkman kept that race lead until the end of the event, becoming the first Irish winner of the Rás in 14 years.
He noted the irony on Saturday. “This stage last year I was lining up in the yellow jersey ready for defending it with two stages to go,” he said. “But look, what can you do? We’re not out of the race due to lack of ability or anything like that, so I suppose we can look at that as a positive. Look, it’s disappointing. But what can you do?”
It’s of course a case of shouda, woulda, coulda to ponder how things might have played out had he not fallen. But it was worth asking him how he had been feeling before the crash. Did he think he was on course?
“I was getting stronger as the days went on. Yesterday [Friday], I felt like I was one of the main riders animating in the race. First day, I was a bit blocked due to the freshness. Second day was great. Yesterday, I was absolutely trucking. So I’d like to think I would have had similar legs today, if not better, because at the moment, I feel like I haven’t ridden the bike yet. That’s a sign that I got the preparation right, but unfortunately, we’re just not going to be able to use that now.
“Look, I wish everyone the best of luck. It’d be good to see the Irish do some damage, but with the way the British riders are riding…they’re riding like well drilled units. And they’re allowing the rest to fall into their hands really, with the way they’re riding, you know, sacrificing one another and things like that, which is great to see.”
Feeley would have loved to have been able to take them on. “We’re not there to give them the battle that we were hoping to give them over the next few days. Today was the stage that I was eyeing. But look, we are out now and we’re on the way home, unfortunately.”
It’s not certain when he will be back in action. As he said, his sister is a doctor and he’ll take her advice, making sure that he is in the right place before he pins on a number again.
Still, if he is feeling better sooner rather than later, there’s another big target he could aim for. He wanted the yellow jersey; perhaps the jersey of Irish road race champion would be a nice consolation, if all went to plan.
“That definitely will be a goal,” he said. “And the course there…from what I’ve heard, it’s not…there’s no Wolf Trap climb or anything like that on it. So it’s a course that will suit me, a rolly, fast circuit.
“So yeah, I’ll prepare for it. But as you know yourself, that race can be a bit of a lottery. Look, if it doesn’t go to plan, it doesn’t go to plan. We’re healthy. And I’m very motivated for next year’s Rás. Hopefully it goes ahead.”
Again, the bigger picture, again the sense of perspective about his setback. Taking disappointment and using it as motivation.
“This thing has just given me a new lease of life. So we’ll push with that as well…”
