Dylan Foley is a former junior international on both road and the track and has already taken a win for the Irish U23 team. But now his season is over. Above, riding in the colours of Aquablue last year before his move to France (Photo: George Doyle)
By Brian Canty
One of Ireland’s best young riders, Dylan Foley has been forced to write off this season because of ill-health.
The promising U23 international has not ridden a race since March 22nd, when he first began to feel unwell.
A lengthy search for answers yielded little until recently
Foley, a stage winner at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan last year, complained of headaches, sweating, fatigue and nausea but feared it was only a bout of food poisoning.
"Up until then, I was flying compared to last year," he said.
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"I'd gotten up in a race the week previous and was going well in training so it was a bit of blow to have this take the feet from under me."
Foley returned to Ireland to get some blood tests done - not before withdrawing from the Irish U23 Nations Cup team - and continued his quest for a diagnosis.
"I went to see two doctors and nothing improved," he continued.
"It wasn't until I saw a doctor in Dublin a few weeks ago that I started to get some concrete answers.
"It turned out to be an abnormality in my bloods that has progressively been getting worse over a few years and has only come to the surface now.
"Missing out on the chance to ride for Ireland was gutting after getting called up. With the form I had I'd hoped for a good run.
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“But once the problem arose I knew there was no point trying to perform when I knew I wasn't right.
"I made the decision to pull out because I knew in the long run it was better not to ride them so I just concentrated on getting back to full health.
"There was a lot of head scratching done; I know now my season is out the window.
“So it's good to know there's a solution to the problem and a plan is in place over the next few months to get me back to normal."
That solution, sadly, will involve very little intensity in training.
"I can't do any hard sessions but I hope within the next six to eight weeks that that will change.
“And once it's time to start the winter training for next season I'll be back firing on all cylinders.
"But the plan for the rest of the season is just to recover fully which means no racing.
"It's definitely been a huge disappointment because I put in a lot of work over the winter and start of the year.
"Over the last few weeks I've tried to look at it in a positive light and use it as motivation and hunger for next season."
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