Timmy Barry is team principal at Aquablue and the former international said his charges were doing a lot more to develop cycling than the public sees.
Last week former international rider and Rás winner Tommy Evans generated some great debate with his views about whether Irish super teams were good for the domestic racing scene.
Evans’ contribution was the first in a new series in which stickybottle will put a question or topic to well known figures in the sport.
The question posed by stickybottle was whether so-called 'super teams' were good for domestic generally, rather than focussing on any teams currently racing.
Responding to the same question, the principal of Aquablue - one of the squads discussed in the contributions by Evans and Martin O'Loughlin - Timmy Barry in this latest piece defends the role of his outfit.
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By Brian Canty
Aquablue team principal Timmy Barry has defended the squad’s approach to racing in Ireland and stressed the Cork-based outfit is far more than just a group of top level riders.
Barry pointed out that Aquablue might have won a number of races in 2015, but believed the team’s dominance was overstated.
He also insisted the squad was developing younger riders.
“We’ve had U23 riders for four years now and have a club side with around 30 members," he said.
“We have A3 and A4 riders as well as triathletes and women so to mention our name in the context of teams that don’t promote cycling is wrong,” he said.
“I have the owner of Aquablue looking at this - who gets nothing in return - reading a negative story regarding us ruining cycling in Ireland so I can’t stand by and watch it because it isn’t true.
(While the question posed by stickybottle to Tommy Evans asked if super teams were ruining domestic racing, he did not believe they were. He mentioned there was "not much nurturing" of younger riders by such teams but referenced "young kids" and juniors rather than any lack of general contribution to the racing scene. - Ed)
Barry continued: “We’ve had U23 riders for the last four years; we have five next year, we had three this year and two the year before and we helped Stephen Clancy move to Novo Nordisk some years back.
“Hopefully we will have the likes of (Sean) McKenna and (Dylan) Foley - one of the best examples of a rider we are developing - moving on in the future.
"But that’s all just the output from our input, if it happens. We’re not trying to sell anything,” the former Rás Mumhan winner continued.
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“Aquablue is not a product, it’s not a potion. We’re lucky to have a very good sponsor in Rick Delaney who is mad into cycling but he gets nothing in return from this.
“We want to develop riders, yes. But including guys from all levels is a key part of the club.”
On dominating races in 2015 Barry said: “If you look at the six biggest races: the Des Hanlon, the Elliott, the Nationals, Rás Mumhan, Tour of Ulster and the Rás. What teams got the best results?
“Mark Dowling won the Des Hanlon and Ulster, UCD had the best Rás individual rider – which is probably the best an Irish guy can hope for, and they only just lost Ulster.
“Irvine hosed the Shay Elliott, McKenna won Rás Mumhan riding for Ireland and Shaw won the nationals.
“So in reality, if you want to add it up, DID had the best season and are not a super team?
“But Aquablue won the team prize for the third year in-a-row and that means a lot to us.”
And helping the current crop - as well as assisting triathletes like Bryan Keane, Chris Mintern and para-triathlete Fran Meehan - bringing on the next generation of Irish riders will be a key priority of Barry’s in 2016.
“Mark O’Callaghan, Conor Hennebry, Caimin Muldoon, Dylan O’Brien and Sean McKenna will all be racing in Europe this year,” he said.
“But by racing with us they’ll first get to learn more about it as part of a team, with the likes of Greg Swinand, Siobhán Horgan, John Horgan and Anthony Walsh as teachers.
“They race here as a team and then go to Europe to race as a team. Plenty Irish riders have gone abroad and when they fall into a team set-up out there they don’t know how to race.
“We’ve brought in Cigala – another example of a fella with a lot of experience who can teach the younger guys how to race.
“That’s what we’re about, not just the guys at the top like Lacey and McKenna and Swinand.”
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