Richie Maes came agonisingly close to taking a medal at the Masters World Cyclocross Championships in Britain last weekend after spending the race chasing the leading trio and having to settle for 4th in the end.
He was just 13 seconds off the three men sprinting it out for the medals, only missing their move through bad luck. Maes has decided to forego an opportunity to ride this weekend's UCI Cyclocross World Cup race in Dublin so he will still be eligible to ride next season's Masters Worlds and Europeans, where he will have his eyes firmly fixed on the podium.
Maes (36), from Kerry and who combines his cycling with his work as an engineer, described himself as "disappointed" not to take home silverware from the Worlds. But his ride there had confirmed to him that he was capable of getting a medal or even winning a title in the next few years.
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"It offers a bit of confidence for next year," he said of his performance in the 35-39 years title race. "The same fella who was 2nd this year was 2nd last year and I was a minute off him last year, so that's a good indicator of where the form is.
"I got a good start, there was 12 of us together," he said said of the seven lap race on a 3.3km circuit in Trinity Park, East Suffolk. "On the second lap there was only six of us together and then it spilt again into two groups of three and the gap stayed the same the whole race."
Maes continued: "There was two Belgians (in the three-man group) ahead of us and they worked together. There was big long straights with a headwind and they did up and over. But the two guys I was with were reluctant to do any work. So I eventually dispatched them and I was on my own trying to catch the other three ahead, which wasn't ideal.
"They were securing the medals for themselves, of course. I was hoping they'd sit up a little bit and I might get across. But it just didn't happen. I had them back to three or four seconds on one lap but then on that headwind section they just pulled away again. The two Belgians were very good."
He said when he was in the lead six-man group early in the race, he was sitting last man when it split.
An error by the rider 4th or 5th wheel on a forest track saw him let a gap open. And with that, the three riders at the front of the group instantly had a small gap and quickly seized their chance.
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The trio up front then stayed together all the way to the finish and sprinted it out, after 55 minutes of racing, for gold, silver a bronze. Victory went to Belgium's Dries Pauwels with Britain's Philip Pearce taking silver and bronze going to the other Belgian rider, Glenn Sluyts.
Pauwels is the Masters cyclocross champion in Belgium and his father is a former two-time Masters world champion in cyclocross. His cousin, Kevin Pauwels, is the former junior world cyclocross champion and multiple elite cyclocross Worlds medal winner.
Last weekend's silver medalist, Pearce, rides for Hope Factory Racing in the UK and has won medals in the elite British MTB XC championships, as well as having competed to World Cup level in cyclocross.
Having finished 5th at the Masters Worlds last year, on the same course as last weekend's race, Maes said he knew he needed to put in a lot of "long hard, threshold level" efforts as he trained towards last Sunday's event.
"I was doing 90 minutes at 300 watts, really long hard efforts," he said. "And then I turned to high intensity efforts for the last three weeks, just to sharpen up. I use the races as well to get form."
Killarney man Maes also coaches his All human-VeloRevolution team mate, Grace Young. He said he set out the same type of training for her in the build up to the Worlds. It clearly paid off as Young took bronze in her 45-49 years world title race.
With the Worlds on in Germany next year and the Europeans in France, Maes believes he can medal and possibly even win. Compatriot Robin Seymour has blazed that particular trail for the Irish riders; the three-time Olympian having now won four European cyclocross Masters titles, his most recent just last month.
Maes pointed out any Masters rider who rode the World Cup in Dublin this weekend would make themselves ineligible to ride the Masters Worlds or Europeans. And so to keep his medal dreams alive, he will not be on the start line this Sunday at the Sport Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown.
"I feel like I could get a medal; definitely, 100 per cent," he said of next years Worlds. "I feel like I could even win it. The lads ahead of me last weekend weren't any better than me; I held that gap to them the whole race on my own."
Masters Worlds 35-39 | Top 10
- Pauwels Dries Independent
- Pearce Phillip Hope Factory Racing
- Sluyts Glenn Individueel
- Maes Richard all human/velorevolution
- Bone David Racing club Ravenna
- Phillips James Nopinz Motip Race Team
- Herrod Seb ROTOR RACE TEAM
- Norfolk Karl Pedalon.co.uk
- de Jonge Daan RTV Oldenzaalse WCL
- Chalmers Scott Morvelo Magspeed Racing
