Matthew Devins and his Dan Morrissey-Primór by Pissei team made it look easy at the weekend when the 20-year-old from Sligo won Rás Mhaigh Eo overall, picking up all three stages in the process. However, behind the dominance is a story of real resilience, leading Devins to re-set his cycling career.
A very bad bout of concussion after a crash in Rás Tailteann last year saw him miss months of racing. He has told stickybottle he believed for a long time he would never cycle again, let alone race at a high level.
Competing in 2022, in his second season for Continental team Trinity Racing, Devins was picked on the Irish team for Flèche du Sud (2.2) in Luxembourg in May. He rode especially well on the uphill finish of stage 3, with 9th place in a quality field.
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However, while he went into Rás Tailteann on home roads in June in flying form, he crashed on stage 3 while sitting 10th overall and wearing the young riders jersey. He banged his head, hard, and was out of the race after a roadside medical check resulted in a concussion diagnosis.
At the time he told stickybottle he was unsure when he would race again in the following weeks or months, though he knew at that stage any hard efforts on the bike would not be possible for some time. He knows now he had no idea what was ahead of him.
Asked yesterday if he was going so well now after a big winter, and upping his approach to training, Devins said he had done "the opposite" during the off season and in recent weeks. Indeed, his new approach is based on complete gratitude at still being in the sport.
He has also made a decision to go back a little and nail one key part of his development before aiming for the European dream once more, which is still very much still in his plans.
"I crashed at the Rás last year, obviously, and I was pretty concussed afterwards," he said. "I wasn't allowed race until Kreiz Breizh (in France) on the August Bank Holiday. And as soon as I did the first stage my symptoms came back really badly because it was the first time I'd fully pushed myself. I was basically in bed from that point and it was the end of October before I could get on the bike again. So it was rough.
"There were points in September and October and I was, like, 'I don't think I'll never be able to cycle again the way this recovery is going'. So just to be back on my bike now… I'm just really happy to be honest. My mindset has improved so much just because I'm not taking things for granted.
"And I'm not getting frustrated with myself as much because I know what I've been through. I'm happy to be here, as opposed to stressing about the next UCI race, which was always a constant pressure from myself."
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Once he realised at the start of the winter his condition had improved and he was able to resume training, he worked away steadily and a in a new frame of mind, which persists. He got his training load back up to "20 hours a week steady, and not too hard on the efforts at all". And since the start of the season, he has also decided to just focus on trying to enjoy his racing and, hopefully, winning a few events rather than always thinking two and three steps ahead.
"Instead of turning up to Irish races fatigued and thinking about my next UCI race, I'm turning up fresh and I actually have legs instead of just using them as training," he said. "My plan for the next while is to do well enough so it looks like I'm ready to go back racing again on the Continent.
"People say that you need to beat the best in Ireland first, before you should go away. And I knew myself I was never at that stage; one of the best in Ireland. So I want to take a step back and complete that (phase), of being one of the best guys here and then hopefully in the summer getting away again to race."
He says he is still intent on going back to Europe to try and make it as a bike rider. However, given his concussion last year - "a disaster for me" - he simply wasn't in a position to put a plan in place with a new team abroad for this year.
"But it's a long season and I'll have to get the results here first," he said. "And if I don't get the results here first well then, one, I'm not good enough and then, two, there's no point in going. Even though I'm 100 per cent focused on getting there in the end, I'm not putting pressure on myself and stressing on it. I think it's just probably because I'm enjoying everything that I'm doing, I've never smiled so much as I have in the last few races."
Devins won stage 1 in Mayo from a three-man breakaway - also containing Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution) and Paul Kennedy (Burren CC). He then won the Saturday afternoon stage 2 hilly TT to consolidate his grip on yellow before taking the third stage yesterday in a sprint from a breakaway.
While delighted with his overall victory and stage wins, he says he is also loving riding for Dan Morrissey-Primór by Pissei. He didn't know some of the team's riders before he joined them for this season. But he already feels they are moving very efficiently as a unit, with the top riders also building their form for the bigger challenges ahead.
He also felt the team - Conor Hennebry, Séan Hahessy, Nathan Keown, Matteo Ciagala, Conal Scully and Graham O'Brien - gelled very well as a unit and rode very honestly at the weekend in Mayo. That team work is something Devins believes can further strengthen in the months ahead.
"It literally couldn't have gone any better at the weekend so I'm just really happy," he said. "I thought it could be a lot longer before I found my racing legs again after not racing for so long. I'm definitely in good nick going into Rás Mumhan, the Des Hanlon and those big events.
"Hopefully I should be good for them. But, to be honest, the likes of Hennebry will be hard to beat by the time those races come around, with how quickly he is improving. So there will be cards to play from us. It should be a pretty competitive year in Irish cycling."
