Dillon Corkery is one of five riders in the Team Ireland line-up for Rás Tailteann and the 24-year-old looks in mint condition going into the most prestigious stage race in Ireland for men. Having just completed a big block of training, and gone close over the weekend to winning a major elite French stage race, Corkery looks like he means business as he comes back to Ireland to tackle just his second Rás.
He is the road captain in an otherwise U23 Team Ireland line-up for Rás Tailteann, which gets underway in Navan, Co Meath, tomorrow. But while the young guns are there to learn - and Corkery to pass on his experience - the French-based CC Étupes rider will be one of the best cyclists in the field and is definitely capable of winning overall.
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"I did the Rás the first time when I was 18 and it was super cool," Corkery, from Lombardstown in Co Cork, said of riding the event when it was a UCI-ranked race back in 2018. "And now at home the Rás is still the Rás, and we all know what that means in Irish cycling. The way I look at it, I'm going in to win it. OK, the team is very young but we can work with that. I know Odhrán (Doogan) is very quick. I know Aaron (Wade); I did the European champs with him and I know he's not afraid, he's a very good lad."
Corkery said while he has not had time to get to know his other two young team mates - first-year U23 Patrick O'Loughlin and Spanish-based Ewan Warren - he was convinced they will ride for each other and squeeze all they can out of the race.
"I don't think any particular climb on the Rás course would put me into major bother and I'm well used to riding at a high intensity in France. So I think I'll be capable on any of he five days and I think any of the lads on the team will be the same," he said. "I spoke to Martyn (Irvine, Irish team manager) and he gave me a run through on what the plan might be. And I have to say, I'm looking forward to it.
"OK, I'm going in there in the road captain role but I've also been given a role as well to play for the win," said Corkery, though adding the race was unpredictable, with luck required for a general classification result. He added he would also ride to position some of his team mates for the sprints, in the hope they could take a stage win.
"Being on the Irish team is a big thing; for me, for my family. And it's also nice to be going back home during the season to wear the Irish jersey, it's always a great moment," he said. "Even if you don't know a whole lot about cycling, it's great for, say, the likes of my cousins seeing me in an Irish jersey.
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"Everyone has been getting ready; mam and dad and the all the girls, booking hotels and all that, and my grandparents are all excited. They were all big followers of me when I was racing at home; going to the races week in, week out."
Corkery, the former national criterium champion, continued: "I am going there to win the race, I want to go home with nothing less than the yellow jersey. That's the mentality and that's the focus. So it's about looking at places where I might be able to make as hard as I can. I need it to be hard, otherwise I'll find it very difficult to win. You're used to racing and that high intensity in France, it's on and off the whole time. And I need that."
While cycling has been Corkery's focus for several years now, that changed during last winter. He moved home to be a carer during that time for his uncle, John Mulcahy, who has since sadly passed away from motor neuron disease. It is clear his uncle's death deep impacted Corkery and he is racing this year with more in mind that his own results. He wants to fly the flag for the family, especially for his aunt Denise.
"The two of them have always been heavily involved in my cycling," he said of his aunt and uncle. "They came to Rás Luimní (in 2018) when I won it and then they followed me around the whole of the country; the Rás, races up the North, they went everywhere. When I got sick, John would be the first to come and help me because he was a pharmacist. They are incredible people and they have four young kids, all of them great."
Because he was caring for his uncle, he knocked back his training load a little over the winter months. That resulted in a slower start to his campaign, but now means he looks like he is just coming into top form for the first time in the campaign.
After a 10-day training block at the end of last month and into early May, Corkery went into Tour de la Manche last week with aspirations of winning the race. While he did not end up on the top step of the podium he went close, taking 2nd overall some 30 seconds down on Ilan Larmet (Dinan Sport Cycling), a 22-year-old French rider taking his 5th win of the year on the elite scene in France.
That result - with 2nd, 3rd and 8th in stages along the way - says Corkery is in good form coming into Rás Tailteann and follows similar results already this year, including five podium finishes competing for CC Etupes. "I've got good preparation done for the Rás, I think that race has set me up super well for it and we'll see what happens."
