Hugely determined, James Davenport (left) has risen to the occasion on stage 5 of the Rás today; busting a gut to get the better of Sean Lacey for the county rider prize (Photo: George Doyle)
By Brian Canty
Having come into the Rás with some good results this year but a win eluding him, James Davenport would perhaps not have been expected to take a coveted county rider prize on a stage, especially with the best domestic riders in the country at their peak this week and all chasing the same honour.
But the south Dublin man joined good company on Rás 2014 when he was best county man on a humdinger of a stage from Cahirciveen to Clonakilty. He was one of a very small number of riders to get clear of the yellow jersey peloton and finish between it and the flying breakaway.
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The 25-year-old just edged out the man leading the county category overall, Aquablue’s Sean Lacey. Riding for Dublin Alimay Sports this week, Davenport said he had to empty the tank to win it ahead of the Kerryman.
“I’m so chuffed, just over the moon to be honest,” he told stickybottle at the finish today after 169km in the saddle.
“It was a shock to get it and I didn’t expect it. It has set me up nicely for the rest of the week. I had absolutely nothing left in the tank at the finish there.
“Sean gave me a good run for my money coming into the line and I knew he wanted the overall, so I let him lead it out and just jumped him on the line. I really wanted it today.”
Davenport did it the hard way too. After missing the 12-man winning breakaway he escaped along with Lacey, Eoin Morton (UCD CC) and a Dutch rider.
Rás breakaway specialist this week, Morton would later tail off. He was perhaps paying for his efforts in putting in the ride of his life so far on this race, signalling that with a few more seasons under his belt there may be much more to come.
But the county rider day belonged to Davenport.
“I knew the first climb was going to split it to pieces so I just hammered it up that and made sure I made the front," he said.
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"I figured there’d be big splits with the headwind at the top, so I just hung on. As soon as the yellow jersey let go and sat up, the bunch was idling for a while. I tried to go and get away but they didn’t let me go easy.
“There were a couple of attacks; myself, Sean (Lacey) and Eoin Morton and eventually we got away. A Dutch rider came across and we got through to the finish, it was brilliant."
Davenport on the podium in Clonakilty being introduced to the crowd by the voice of Irish cycling Cian Lynch (Photo: John Reilly)
He said the result had come after a steady first half of the week.
“Up until now I’ve been good, staying safe. I came down in one small crash on stage two but was lucky enough to bounce back off the ground and get up again.
“I chased back on for about 40km and just caught the back of the bunch with 2km to go. So I was really happy with that; just to stay in contention for the overall county rider prize."
He added he wanted to do something this week to repay the support shown by Alimay, the new Irish-based online cycling retailer launched by Cian Shortt.
“We’ve been so well looked after this week and Alimay are looking after us with an awful lot all year. There’s a great bunch of lads here in the team and I’m proud to be with them so this today is as much for them as it is for me.”
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