Rian McCrystal of Team Ireland took two stage wins, the overall, young rider classification and points classification at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland (Photo: Stephen McMahon-Sportsfile)
Any chance Rian McCrystal might get carried away with his Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland performance - winning the overall, two other classifications and two stage wins - was put to bed first thing this morning, Monday.
"When I woke up and went to breakfast the first thing dad said was I could cut the grass today," he laughed, telling stickybottle he was also helping out in the family business later in the day.
But the last week has been a big one for the 17-year-old from Dundalk, Co Louth. The Junior Tour had just four Irish winners since Nicolas Roche triumphed way back in 2002.
Sam Bennett claimed the 2008 edition and Eddie Dunbar took back-to-back victories in 2013 and 2014. That was followed by Ben Walsh's win in 2017 and Matthew Walls doing the business last year.
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Winning this race is a big deal. A home win is rare.
McCrystal said getting clear with American Hot Tubes riders Alex Botha and Cormac Nagle was the key moment of the race for him (Photo: Stephen McMahon-Sportsfile)
McCrystal said he believed in himself going into the race, and as opportunities came his way once it started. But he was at pains to point out the role played by his Team Ireland team mates; James Armstrong, Fionn Killeen, Darragh Byrne and Hugh Óg Mulhearne.
"It feels the same," he said when asked if his success was a big boost to his confidence.
"It’s another race to get under the belt. And it's great... as you said, there's very few Irish winners the last years, so it's great to keep the trophy in Ireland for another year."
Building the big win, from the start
There is no doubt he stepped up and took on responsibility when he needed to. And he did so despite missing 10 weeks of racing, in his first season as a junior, when he broke his collarbone racing for Cannibal Victorious in Belgium back in March.
Last week on ‘The JT’ was 6th in the bunch sprint that settled stage 1, 8th on a punctured wheel on stage 2 and then, crucially, won stage 3 from the breakaway to take yellow.
Though he defended it the next day by winning again - in a sprint from a reduced bunch to Kilfenora - he saw the race lead slip away on the penultimate stage.
Lucas Lillistone (Halesowen Academy-Mapei), who had already won stage 2, got clear in a late breakaway that gained nine seconds, and so took the lead from McCrystal by just three seconds.
Rian McCrystal may have missed 10 weeks of racing due to a broken collarbone early in the season but his 7th place in elite National Criterium Championships in May was a sign he was coming back strongly (Photo: Toby Watson)
Was he panicking at that stage?
"I wouldn't say I was nervous. I believed in myself and I believed in the team; that we could do it, because we had shown it before, earlier in the week. So I knew we could do it again
"The team was just ureal the way the race played out, they were perfect from start to finish."
Crucial final stage
That perfection continued to the last stage on Sunday. McCrystal sprinted to 2nd place on the day and secured a six-second time bonus, thus winning the race by three seconds from Lillistone.
Asked was there skin and hair flying on the approach to the final sprint into Ennis on Sunday, which settled general classification in his favour, he said:
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"Ah sure, every bunch sprint is chaotic. We missed Hugh that day, unfortunately he couldn't start. James and Darragh held everything together coming in the main road.
“And then I had Fionn to lead me out from the last corner, right up to the first part of the hill. And then he just left me off there to do the business and finish it off.
"I knew I had to just get those bonus seconds and finish ahead of Lucas. So I knew I got yellow back and it was just a great feeling to know you've done it, and that the team had done it."
Winner of the race overall, Rian McCrystal of Team Ireland at the finish of the 2026 Junior Tour of Ireland in Ennis (Photo: Stephen McMahon-Sportsfile)
He said perhaps the most pivotal moment of the week of his stage 3 win, into Whitegate, and where he gained eight seconds on the bunch and a 10-second bonus for the stage win.
He had been in the breakaway that day, but the peloton was closing rapidly on the run in to the finish. At the front of the breakaway, two riders from the American Hot Tubes team - Cormac Nagle and Alex Botha - drilled it.
McCrystal said he was third wheel and when he looked back, someone had let the wheel go and he was clear with the two Americans. Their gap went out and they made it to the line - McCrystal beating them both to win the day.
"I went into the day not knowing what would happen," he said of that stage, which he felt was the biggest deciding factor in the race.
"I found myself in the break and I followed the right wheels. Hugh (also in the breakaway) was great for me that day and I was the one who crossed the line first.
"And that was great for the team, it was great for everyone, because everyone played their part that day. It was a real team win."
Overcoming adversity
McCrystal, who goes into 6th year in St Mary's College in Dundalk in September, also had to overcome adversity on the race.
Though he started in yellow on stage 4 and won that day, a crash in the bunch took him out just 3km into the stage. He had to change bikes and also change a broken shoe before getting back on.
And on the penultimate stage, his team mates Mulhearne and Killeen both crashed. But when dangerman Lillistone got clear deep into the final 10km, McCrystal said his team mates Byrne and Armstrong "emptied themselves for me".
They drilled it on the front to keep to a minimum the advantage gained by the breakaway.
"The lads all day, they were just unreal," he said. "And just to have three seconds (to gain on the final stage) was the best situation for us. James and Darragh's pulls were class coming in the road (on stage 5)."
So what's next?
Though racing for European squad Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development Team this year, McCrystal's early season was undermined by that crash in March, then missing 10 weeks of racing.
He said his schedule for the months to come has not been nailed down yet.
"Obviously, I want to try and get away and do as many races as I can," he said. "So I'll be in contact with the team and I'll see what races are there from me to do."
His Junior Tour win came on the same weekend Irish junior Emer Heverin and U23 Seth Dunwoody won European titles on the track. And there are countless young Irish riders making their way in pro cycling; Adam Rafferty, David Gaffney, Liam O'Brien, Killian O'Brien, Patrick Casey and others.
Asked would he love to be part of that in time, McCrystal was not getting carried away. But it is clear he has been taking it all in.
"It's great watching them, it's really inspiring watching them. But there is a long way to go."
