The Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland is a race that has been dominated by the foreign visitors in the last few years, in terms of stage wins, overall victory and the various classification jerseys. On last year's race, five of the stages went to the British riders and one to the Americans.
Indeed, the stage 1 win by Shay Donley of Team Ireland in 2018 is the last time an Irish cyclist has taken a stage victory. Ben Walsh's overall win in 2017 was the last time and Irishman has claimed yellow; the last bumper year for the Irish, also winning four stages - Walsh, Ronan Tuomey and John Buller; the latter winning twice.
While this year's crop of juniors in Ireland is relatively small - 30 in the junior road race at the recent National Road Championships and 40 on the Junior Tour start list - there are some very strong cyclists among them and in this piece we analyse the Irish challenge in detail ahead of the race's start this evening, Tuesday.
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Unfortunately, other very strong Irish juniors won't be racing in Co Clare in the week ahead. National TT champion Adam Rafferty, national road race champion Seth Dunwoody, recent championship medal-winner Patrick Casey and the very promising Sam Coleman are all riding the Tour du Valromey, a major French stage race that gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday.
But the Irish riders who are competing over six stages in Co Clare, from this evening to next Sunday, in Junior Tour of Ireland 2023 can do serious damage. They can win stages, the classifications and perhaps even the overall. More importantly, they can launch themselves in the week ahead towards big careers in the years to come.
The Irish team
Of Team Ireland, last year's junior road race champion, Oisin Ferrity (Caldwell Cycles), jumps out as a potential stage winner. A great sprinter, he can also drive in a breakaway and go solo from one. He recently won the Newry Three Day overall, after winning the last stage alone with the kind of form that will be good enough to come out of this Junior Tour with more wins on his palmares.
The Irish team is also comprised of Darragh Doherty, Killian O’Brien, Liam O’Brien and Cal Tutty.
Doherty (FlandersColor-Galloo Team) has been going well this year, having first really impressed on his way to 4th in the junior road race at the National Championships last year. Since then he has been very consistent and also taken two wins this year; a stage at the Gorey Three Day and the Phoenix GP.
Killian O’Brien (Orwell Wheelers) is, like Doherty and Tutty, making his debut for the junior Irish team, and he perhaps has the most potential to announce himself over the next week. The first-year junior has already won the A3-Junior Shay Elliott and taken a stage, and held the yellow jersey, at the recent Newry Three Day. He also went head-to-head with the top seniors last month in Kerry in round 5 of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series, taking 3rd in the end and extending his lead in the junior series.
He is definitely a man for the hard road; someone who will excel when the gradients get grippy. The question for him will be how he - as a flyweight rider - handles the faster speeds, when the big gears get rolling on the flat and into the crosswinds. But on the strength of what we have seen so far from him - and whatever happens over the next week - he looks like he just might be a real talent.
For Liam O'Brien (Fermoy CC), the one shame of this year's JT route is the lack of a TT. He has gone about honing and improving his performance against the watch like a professional rider. The fruits of those efforts were clear to see at the weekend when he was 4th in a the TT stage at the five-stage UCI-ranked Sint Martinusprijs Kontich, on his way to 4th overall.
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However, O'Brien is clearly a powerful rider who is in mint condition, with the benefit of having ridden last year's 'JT'. A Junior Tour that splits up - which hasn't always been the case - would suit him as he is likely to be very consistent in making the cut when the selections are made.
Tutty, out of Dungarvan CC, recently got himself in the breakaway of four, which came down to three, in the junior road race at the National Road Championships. That was no fluke as he matched Liam O'Brien and Seth Dunwoody up front for the full duration of the race, going on to claim the bronze medal.
Tutty also won the PJ O’Riordan Memorial in Tournafulla, Co Limerick, back in May. He has proven to himself he can get up the road and finish the job and if he can take that belief into the week ahead, he can have a say. Combined, the Irish team can make a very strong unit and, with the rub of the green, they can leave their mark on Junior Tour 2023.
Other strong Irish challengers
Aside from the five riders in green this week, there are others who can take results and who will likely also be on Irish teams in the months or years ago.
In the Cycling Ulster team, Curtis Neill and Travis Harkness are two riders who can excel. Neill took a great win in the Danny Boy Road Races earlier this year and also won the TT stage at the Gorey Three Day. He was also 2nd on the third stage at the Newry Three Day and 5th overall.
Harkness, a very strong cyclocross rider, won the John Haldane Memorial earlier this year and made the top 10 in the road race at the nationals. He also finished in the top 10 on three stages of the Junior Tour last year; vital experience, and promising results, he can bring to bear this week.
Tarrant Skoda - out of Munster - have three different teams in the Junior Tour and of their riders, Willem O'Connor and Tom Kinsella have looked strong while Hayden Power, the former U16 Irish champion, can also make an impression if he gets a clear run at the line in a sprint.
Both O'Connor and Kinsella have been racing abroad at times this year. On home roads, O'Connor finishing 3rd overall in the Kanturk Three Day earlier this year. The Leinster A team is comprised of Josh Callaly, Joseph Mullen, Tadhg Killeen, Joe Nathan Matar, Sean Tolan.
Callaly (Navan Road Club) was 2nd overall at the Gorey Three Day this year, finished 2nd on the final stage, won the Liam Gallahar Memorial in March and a round of the Junior Portugal Cup last month. He has every right to back himself going into this week of racing.
His team mate Mullen (Navan Road Club) is a cyclocross international and has won the Boyne GP this year. He has done a lot of racing in Portugal, scoring a series top 10s, including in the Portugal Cup. That kind of consistency could carry him a long way in Co Clare over the next six days.
