Eoin McCarthy (leading) on his way to taking best county rider prize on Rás stage 4 from Charleville to Roscommon today after he was one of only five county men to make the lead group (Photo: Ramsey Cardy - Sportsfile)
By Brian Canty
Eoin McCarthy continued his family’s good run on the An Post Rás today, taking the country rider prize on stage 4 after his cousin Robert Jon McCarthy won Sunday’s opener and took the first yellow jersey of the race.
A third of the cousins, David McCarthy has also been going well and has enjoyed a stint leading the second category rider classification.
Eoin crossed the line in 12th place in Cahirciveen this afternoon, the best of any county man in the race.
The Belgium-based rider, who is part of the VisitNenagh.ie team this week, said he had targeted today’s stage when sketching out his plan of attack in the weeks before the Rás began.
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“I’m pretty happy now alright,” the Irish U23 international said.
“I did say it to the lads last night at the dinner table that I’d try to get the county rider prize because on paper the stage today really suited me.
“I stayed at the front all day on Robert Jon’s wheel because the Kiwis were obviously riding for GC and An Post team were behind them. And I just sat there all day, I lasted in the climbs with the yellow jersey and he rode so well to bring it all back.
“Then in the last couple of kilometres I was thinking to myself ‘I’m sick of being that nearly man, today is my day and I’m going to do whatever I can to pick up this county rider prize’…”
Out of Fermoy: Left to right, cousins Eoin, Robert Jon and David McCarthy riding the Rás this week; Robert Jon for An Post-Chainreaction and Eoin and David for VisitNenagh.ie
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McCarthy, who has raced the U23 international Nations Cup series in Europe with the national team for the last two seasons, knew he had a great chance as only 32 riders were in the lead group and only five of them county men.
“There was myself, Damien Shaw, Mark Dowling, Ronan McLaughlin and Andy Roche going for it and in the sprint at around 3-400 metres to go there was a crash,” he said.
“That happened on the left and I was on the right. So I just went straight from there. I got to about 10th wheel and held my position hoping no one would come around me, and they didn’t.”
He said the result gave him pleasure and relief in equal measure.
“I had the crash on the first day and I was riding the last two days with a bike that wasn’t right for me. I didn’t have any race wheels but I got them back today.”
He said winning the county award on what many regarded the hardest day of the race added to his sense of achievement.
“At the start there were some climbs that were hard, but most were okay. I was feeling pretty good all day, I had good legs.
“I started the final climb in maybe 20th and it was hard, especially because I only had a 25 (sprocket) on the back.
“But going over the top I was with the yellow jersey and I knew then that that was a good thing because he was unbelievably strong. I don’t know how many groups he pulled back, he’s a machine.
“I said I wanted to get the county rider prize and I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get on the podium at least once for it this week. But I feel good, I’m not too tired and hopefully I’ll recover well for tomorrow.
McCarthy, who rides for the Terra Footwear team in Belgium and is from Fermoy in Cork, said he was grateful to all of those who supported his full time racing, including the Dave Rayner fund on the UK for their financial support.
“This just gets the ball rolling for me now. It’s what I needed because I’ve had a lot of illness, crashes and other things. I needed that today."
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