Illness meant it was touch and go whether Zippy Doyle would race in Balbriggan but his decision to line out brought him and his new VeloRevolution team their first win of the season (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)
By Gerard Cromwell
Just a couple of hours before the Harry Reynolds Memorial, Anthony Doyle was sitting on his couch sniffling and shivering, contemplating whether the drive to the start in Man O’War would be worth the hassle.
“I’m sick at the moment,” said Doyle shortly after outsprinting a five man breakaway group to take his first win of the season.
“I’ve a really bad head cold and a temperature. I was sitting at home on the couch shivering earlier and I knew the worst thing to do was to come out here today.
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"But I just had a feeling that something was there, you know. It’s one of those mad ones but I’m super happy with that.”
Doyle overcame the handicap to make his way across to junior duo Mark Downey and Caimin Muldoon of the Nicolas Roche Performance team on the penultimate lap alongside Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne) and UCD’s Colm Cassidy.
But the lead quintet only held a slender 20 seconds at the bell and with some good riders left behind, it was touch and go whether they would stay clear.
“I managed to get away with Javan, who was riding really hard and Colm Cassidy was too," he said.
"I suppose with one UCD guy in the front, it meant they were probably going to leave Ryan (Sherlock) or somebody to chase so I’d say that interrupted the chase behind.”
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Although the NRPT duo of Downey and Muldoon held numerical advantage on the last lap, there was little attacking before the final sprint to the line.
“We were still riding at fair pace, trying to stay away and maintain that 20 second lead. We were getting constant time checks. It was 18 seconds, 23, 25 then half a minute on the last lap.”
“It was really fast from the gun today. My heart rate was through the roof, sky high, but the legs felt good, which is a really strange one for me.
"I’m that disorientated today that I wasn’t actually sure where I was on the last half a lap, even though we’d done a few of them.
"I was saving a little bit. I knew the sprint was going to be hard so I had to just wait and wait. There was similar one earlier in the year and Javan got me in that so I’m delighted to win today.”
The victory is the first for the new VeloRevolution team, set up by Aiden Crowley and sponsored by his clothing company.
“It’s nice to bag a win for the team. We’ve had a few placings but this is the first win, so Aidan will be happy.”
Although he’d just taken his first win of the year, Doyle was unsure whether he would ride the tough Ben McKenna Memorial in Balbriggan tomorrow.
“I don’t know. It’s a long one. I’ll probably be in a body bag this evening when I get home, but we’ll see.”
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