Conor Halvey may have put his bike away after pressue-related burnout from cycling in his junior years, but the Donegal man rediscovered his love of cycling at the start of the pandemic. And now he has taken the biggest win of his career, scoring a Cycling Ireland National Road Series victory in Co Mayo yesterday.
The potential has always been there for the 22-year-old Four Masters CC man - having raced for Ireland as an U16 and junior rider and won Rás Dhun na nGall overall. More recently, his name has been a constant presence in the results on the domestic scene. Last Easter, for example, he was 4th on the opening da of Rás Mumhan and yellow jersey on the road for a time on the final stage before eventually finishing 8th overall.
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However, while he has taken countless podium placings in recent years, a big win eluded him until yesterday afternoon at the Brian O'Loughlin Memorial in Cong, Co Mayo. And, as he tells stickybottle, that win is a big turn around in his relationship with racing, which soured badly when initial success as a junior gave way to a more negative experience.
Yesterday Halvey got up the road from the gun and though some big name riders - including series leader Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution) - eventually caught the breakaway, Halvey was to the fore again when the front group split. He eventually arrived onto the finishing straight in Cong in a group of four. And in the final kick to the line he had too much speed for the others.
He won ahead of Evaldas Stankevicius (Greenmount Cycling Academy), Richie Maes (All human-VeloRevolution) and Tim Walton (All human-VeloRevolution).
"I couldn't believe it first of all, because it's about five or six years since I won a race," said Halvey of his reaction on crossing the line. "It was a great feeling, and for the race to be part of the National Series, that's a bonus."
Having taken up racing as an U12 rider and competed through the youth ranks, he was part of the Nicolas Roche Performance Team as a junior. His time with that team included riding some Nations Cup stage races in France, though he had had enough of the bike even before his junior days were over.
"As a second year junior, coming to the end of the season… just mentally and physically I was burnt out," he said, adding the pressure he was under was self-imposed. "It was just about too much pressure, taking it too seriously. I sorta hung the bike up for a year or so and then at the start of Covid I picked it back up again. And I've been loving it since. Coming back to cycling, when the pressure was off, I've been loving it ten times more."
Having graduated from college, with an engineering degree, last October, Halvey is mixing working with his racing for the first time this season. However, given the demands of engineering in college, the Letterkenny man felt it was easier to mix racing with working than studying.
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"Obviously working takes time as well, but I've been able to put a good emphasis on the bike this year. At least with working, once you knock off, that's you finished for the evening."
That mix of working and cycling is clearly suiting him. And while Halvey said he was "frustrated" by his second season as a junior in 2018, he always felt he had some potential.
"It was just a matter of doing it, I knew I was capable of it, so I'm just over the moon now," he said of his win in Mayo, which he hoped he would take confidence from. The manner of his riding yesterday was impressive as he was pressing hard immediately the race began.
"The break went from the gun, very similar to last year; just about 5k out the road," Halvey said of the move that dominated the 142km race, run over five laps of a punchy circuit. "We held the bunch at about 30 seconds for a long time, maybe 15k, but we knew if we kept the pressure on… And eventually the gap went out to about a minute."
In that move with Halvey were: Tim Walton, Richard Maes, Vladislav Evseev (All human-VeloRevolution), Samuel Moloney (Burren CC), James O'Sullivan (Blarney CC), Padraig O'Sullivan (Newcastle West CC), Mark Shannon (Burren CC) and Mark McGinley (Four Masters CC).
While the group was working very well together, on the second lap a strongman's chasing group got clear of the bunch. It included, among others, Feeley, Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Cycles), Stankevicius and Jason Kenny (UCD Cycling Club). They closed the gap to the leaders to 1:30 but got no closer for about half a lap. They then began to make more progress, closing the gap to about one minute on the penultimate lap.
It wasn't until deep into that fourth lap, when the cooperation in the breakaway was displaced by stop-start attacking, that the chasers closed up. Shortly after the catch was made, Walton and Maes attacked, with a couple of others going with them.
Halvey sensed the danger and jumped across as the group was pulling away. He was in there with Maes, Walton, Bolger and Stankevicius. They very quickly gained a big advantage; the gap back to the chasers soon reaching two minutes.
"I knew in the last 10k I had to play my cards right," Halvey said. "But I felt that all day I was one of the strongest in the breakaway. With about 200 metres to go I jumped them and I had the better legs on the day. I was just delighted to get the win."
Halvey said he was now looking forward to Rás Tailteann, a race his Four Masters club will be entering a team in. "It's nice now to be coming up to the Rás with some good form, it's less than a month away now this week. And then after that I'll see what other races I'll target for the rest of the season."
