Jack Woods wins the Mick Lally Memorial last Saturday, sprinting up the Dorey's Forge ramp to the line on the hoods (Photo by Pat McGonagle, homepage photo by Caroline Kerley)
Jack Woods missed his chance to turn a strong season last year into one that might have put him more squarely on the map, especially with international teams. More of that in a moment.
For now, however, he has started his second season as a junior with a big win in a C1 race, the Mick Lally Memorial, producing a sprint that suggests he might go far. And he told stickybottle he was hoping for two things this year: "To be competitive in C1 races and results in (junior) UCI races in Europe."
He did well last year. But it could have - and should have - gone into orbit for him at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland in July.
Riding the race on the Irish team, he got into a 20-man breakaway on stage 5. And when the three strongest riders from that group broke clear, in the move that wrapped up the overall for Matthew Walls (Cycling Leinster), Woods was there.
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But about 1km from the line he punctured. And that left Nathan Levitt (Lee Valley) and Walls to go 1-2 on the stage. Had Woods been with them, he surely would have won given his sprint.
Jack Woods during the junior road race at the National Road Championships in Co Meath last year (Photo: Caroline Kerley)
Furthermore, the fact there are now as many American riders, and British riders, as there are Irish cyclists in the Junior Tour, a stage win there probably has more currency than ever in the eyes of junior and U23 European teams. It would have been huge for him.
Woods concedes it was a frustrating day. He limped home an anonymous 55th, more than four minutes down, as Walls and Levitt were getting set for the podium presentations in Killaloe after the 118km stage.
But, riding for Belgian team Crabbe Dstny again this year, Woods is determined to look forward.
An articulate 18-year-old from Carlow Town, he is a sixth year student at Presentation College Carlow. That means he has the not-so-small matter of the Leaving Cert to get through - "the exams have to come first for now" - before he gets a clear run at racing in Europe.
"I should be heading away for two to three months after the nationals and get as much racing in as I can," he said. "But obviously there's a lot of good one-day racing on from now until about May. And I'm hopeful of getting over to a few of them, the big UCI ones."
The need to get into some UCI races, perform in them and take some results is upper most in his mind. That's what's required to secure a berth with a strong U23 development team for next season. But he's not overlooking the home scene this year, and he says it will be hard to repeat the kind of success he had last weekend.
Jack Woods says being competitive at C1 level will be a challenge this year, even before he tries his hand in European road racing (Photo: Sean Rowe)
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"For me, last year, there was a lot of learning," he said of his first year as a junior in 2025. "I tried to do a lot of C1 races when I could, even though I wasn't graded C1. The idea was to do them, and maybe just get hammered by the boys, so I could be competitive this year.
"And I think the goal for me this year is to be competitive, rather than being just a number in the races. A few results, especially domestically, would be nice."
He said he'd love another go at the Junior Tour, and try to take a stage win, which he believed was a realistic goal. However, there may be other races on at that time in Europe with his Belgian team. And he will need to wait to see what the plans are.
"Abroad with the team, I just need to get a good few results... A few good placings in UCI races, because this year is also about looking at, hopefully, an under 23 team for next season. I think I got as much experience as I could last year, and I was able to get a few results. And now I need to put that experience into practice."
Woods began cycling aged 12 years after his dad, Paul Woods, got him into the sport. Though he raced almost immediately, he crashed in his first event, the Peter Bidwell Memorial, promoted by Drogheda Wheelers. Though he broke his elbow, it didn't put him off.
He played rugby with Carlow Rugby Club until about three years ago and believes that improved his strength, which is so evident in his sprinting abilities now. There is no doubt he can sprint. If all goes well, he can perhaps take over the sprinter position Max Fitzgerald occupied in the Irish junior category over the last couple of years.
With Carlow RCC, who he started with, and his coach Kevin McCambridge, behind him, Woods has already won multiple national titles. He was Irish champion on the road as an U15 and U16. And it is his sprint that appears to be his big asset, as he showed last Saturday when he edged none other than Daire Feeley (Burren CC) into 2nd place.
But he says he needs to wait and see what happens next. It's about the Leaving Cert, then the Irish races, and hopefully the European junior scene. He says it's all to play for, all up for decision, though he was very happy to win last weekend; taking the C1 race in the same promotion where he won the C3 race last year.
The breakaway group was brought back with about 2km to go and Woods pounced from the bunch to win; leading it out with confidence and taking his effort all the way to the line.
Asked was he surprised to win, he laughed and said: "Yes! It was definitely a surprise.
"Going to the race, I just wanted to see where the legs were at. It's always hard to judge how the race is going to go, especially the first one.
"I found myself in that position, being in the first 10 coming into the bottom of the climb... And it's a really hard one to judge, knowing exactly where to go," he added of Dorey's Forge.
"I don't think it's a pure sprint. I think it's just a strong man's sprint, very heavy roads. I kicked and put the head down. But I was certainly surprised to be the winner, I wasn't expecting that at all."
Jack Woods. Keep an eye out for the name this year.
