Now aged 38 years and working full time in a post that takes him overseas as a matter of course, John Mason still managed to get up the road on stage 2 of the An Post Rás into Lisdoonvarna yesterday and believes many county men are well capable of mixing it. Seen here wearing the climbers' jersey after stage 1 of the Tour of Ulster earlier this month (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)
By Brian Canty
John Mason might be aged 38 years but the DID Dunboyne man is showing no signs of slowing down. He put in a great ride on stage two of the An Post Rás yesterday into Lisdoonvarna, making his way in the lead group of the day before it exploded in the closing stages.
Following on from an excellent display at the Tour of Ulster over the May Bank Holiday weekend, Mason got up the road yesterday when he latched onto the back of Damien Shaw (Aquablue) and went through “20 minutes of torture” before he could relax.
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“It was a tough day, there were a lot of crashes in the bunch earlier on, so I just moved to the front and saw McCrystal and Shaw kind of pop off the front,” he said.
“I closed across to Damien and we rode up to a group of three riders and eventually ended up in a group with Mark Dowling and the Aquablue lads,” he explained.
“It was easier up the road; it’s quite stressful in the bunch at the moment because the roads are so slippery and the riders are quite tetchy as well.
“Even though I made the break, there was a lack of commitment; a lot of riders missing turns because of so many Aquablue guys.
“The gap was around a minute, 1’40” for a while but we never really got a good ‘up and over’ session going. So it was inevitable we’d be caught I think.
“Coming onto the road to Doolin with around 40k to go there was a big group came across and there was loads of attacking and that was the end of it for us.
He said at one point the Synergy Baku team had four riders in the front and there then followed “savage attacking” for around 10 to 15 kilometres.
“The group was too big for it all to work cohesively. So at that stage you know you can’t go with everything, you’ve to pick your move and commit to it and give it your best.
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“I thought the Aquablue lads might have committed two guys full on though, and give Damien Shaw a chance to rest up and have a crack at it.
“It’s hard to know though; it’s not every day you get to have four riders in the break and they were thinking ‘why give guys a free ride?’
Mason, who has plenty experience of the Rás, said it was a proud day for county riders in general, with so many acquitting themselves well.
“The standard is good at home; everyone is training a bit more professionally now. A lot of people are working obviously, but they’re making the most of their time and training smart so I think we’re showing we can mix it with the top guys.
“I’ve trained really hard this year for this, but saying that, I’m travelling abroad every week for work,” he said of his career with Glanbia.
“I’m in South Africa, Germany and it’s tough to get the training in but if you train smart and train properly you can make a contribution to a race. It paid off in Ulster for me as well as I was able to ride.
“I’m 38 now and I can’t put this type of commitment in for too long more. We’ll just see how the rest of the week goes.
He believed with so many county riders have infiltrated good escapes in the opening two stages of the race more may follow their lead and have the confidence to have a go.
“There’s a lot of guys here who are just watching the race, but there’s no need to sit down the back and watch it. If you have a crack and get up the road it’s not a whole lot harder than sitting in the bunch.
“You just have to have that 20 minutes of torture on your limit effort like today to get in the break but it does ease up.”
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