Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution) came away from the Donal Crowley Memorial yesterday with his third win of the season after he and Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC) bridged across to the breakaway and then rode away from it. They formed a two-man move for the final 40km, with Feeley proving best in the two-up sprint in Blarney, Co Cork.
Feeley said the nature of the race - both the course and the way it unfolded - made for a very hard day out. He also believes the standard among the best riders in the country is higher this year compared to last season.
To illustrate his point he shared with stickybottle the record power he had produced for a one-hour effort. That hour of watts in Blarney yesterday was bigger than anything he churned out when riding for the Irish team at races such as Tour de l'Avenir, or when he was competing against World Tour riders as a member of EvoPro Racing.
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"It was up and down all day, there was nothing easy about it; very difficult roads and you were on the power all day," he said of yesterday's race, which included two undulating circuits of a course featuring the climb of Nadd Mountain.
"It was a very, very hard day. I set the highest power numbers I've ever set. Even just for an hour, I did 376 watts for an hour, which was massive power.
"The level is so, so high this year, everyone seems to have brought their 'A game'. This year you really have to dig deep for the wins. It's improving a bit every year and I think the big thing is there's a lot of talk about the Rás already, lads are mad to ride the Rás.
"And then when you see the likes of Dan Morrissey, they have a lot of lads back who weren't maybe as competitive last year or just weren't racing as much last year; the likes of Sean Hahessy and Conor Hennebry. They're all back racing now and at a really good level and it makes the racing that bit harder.
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"There's also also lads my age who are full-time bike riders - 25, 26 years of age who are doing 30 hours a week on the bike. And that really does make a difference to the racing.
"Conn McDunphy is also very impressive at the moment. If he misses a move you could nearly rely on him that he'll come with you (in a chase) and give you good turns. And if he had won (yesterday) I wouldn't have been a bit surprised because he was very strong."
Feeley said the course chosen by Blarney CC for the race - the opening round of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series - posed a serious test. And he believed combining the senior and junior races into one had also worked well.
"The climb really made the race and the juniors animated it to a good extent as well, they were very strong. You had the likes of Oisin Ferrity (Caldwell Cycles) and the other juniors there and they really did animate it, especially in the early part.
"They died a bit towards the end because of the distance. But it was good to see them up there being able to mix it with us and I think in two or three years time they're going to be doing some damage."
The Rás Tailteann champion added he was going as well now on the bike as this time last year, saying he was happy with three wins so far, especially as he felt the standard of the top riders was higher.
"My problem is that I want to go to every race and win them, but I can't do that," he said. "The form is good, but I'm not able to do as many hours compared to last year because I'm doing a Masters (elite sports performance in DCU) and I'm working as well."
