By Shane Stokes
Rás Tailteann race leader Dom Jackson said on Thursday evening he was unsure if he would be able to retain the race lead but duly did so on Friday’s third stage. However he had a tense time of it, with many attacks being launched along the 154.8 kilometres from Kenmare to Cahir, and several dangerous moves going clear.
He was relieved at the finish to have held on, but spoke about the strain of the day and how wearing the yellow jersey changed the behaviour of others towards him.
“It’s like putting a massive target on your back, which says ‘please don’t be friends with me,’” he told Stickybottle, smiling. “Like, if you ever want someone to work with you, it’s not going to happen.
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“If you ever need a little bit of help, nope if you’re wearing this jersey. It’s very understandable, probably if it was the other way around, I’m sure I’d be exactly the same.
“But you feel like you lose a lot of friends just by wearing yellow. So any favours I can pull…hopefully down the line maybe.”
Jackson finished third on day one and then gained time on the riders in front of him on the mountainous stage two. Conn McDunphy (USA: Skyline-Cadence) and Liam O’Brien (Team Ireland) finished first and second on that stage and ended the day exactly level on time with Jackson, who took over the race lead by virtue of better stage placings.
Friday was his first day defending that lead, and he came under sustained attack.
“It was super nervous. It just was so fast. No one was willing to let something actually stay away. It was just attack, attack, attack, attack. I looked down at one point and was like, ‘we’ve already done 80k. It feels like I’ve only been riding for maybe just over an hour.’ Obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it was crazy.”
The most dangerous attack was one by O’Brien, defending Rás champion Dillon Corkery (both Ireland: Team Ireland), last year’s longtime race leader Conor McGoldrick (UK: Richardsons Trek DAS) and Warren Ewan Scanlon (Spain: Brocar Rali Ale), which went clear on the category 3 climb of Doneraille, just before the riders completed 100 kilometres from the start in Kenmare.
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They were eventually brought back, but gave Jackson and his team plenty of concern.
“Hats off to Team Ireland, they clearly had a plan and caught a lot of guys napping, including myself,” he said. “I think the only reason it came back was it still had quite a long way to go. And our group was maybe 20 guys, with maybe eight or so who were keen to bring it back.
“Then at the end as well, with a little group that got away, thankfully Foran had one guy in that move. But then there were clearly some sprint teams who didn’t have some guy up the road and were willing to pull that back.
“Had they not been there, I would not be stood here now [in yellow]. So yeah, I owe lots of people some beers probably. It’s been another awesome day.”
He remains locked on time with O’Brien and McDunphy, with the only change there being the latter’s move from third to second overall. Another Irishman George Peden (UK: Team PB Performance) remains fourth overall but narrowed his deficit to 15 seconds as a result of being in the final break.
So how does he rate his chances of winning overall with two stages left?
“It’s exactly the same again,” he said, referring to his answer on Thursday. “With two guys on the same time, it’s coming down to placings. So I made sure I beat them in the sprint today, to get realistically another couple places slipping room. But even if there’s a second gap, this jersey is not mine anymore. So I’m balancing on a very, very thin tightrope to keep it going.
“As I said, we’ll do everything we can to keep it as long as we can. And if we make to the end, I’ll be absolutely thrilled.”
Remarkably, he is relatively new to the sport and that puts things into context.
“Even just to be in this jersey is such an experience. I’ve only been cycling for three years. So it feels surreal.
“With the team, we’ve put a lot of work into this race. So to get a nice reward from it is just amazing.”
