Connor McConvey (tall rider, red top, middle) sprints in for the minor placings in Glengarrif today; he's now in with a real chance of an overall win in the An Post Rás (Photo: www.blackumbrellaphotography.com )
By Gerard Cromwell
Just 28 seconds after Russian rider Kirill Pozdnyakov outsprinted a four-man breakaway group to take stage victory for the Irish-managed Synergy Baku team in Glengarrif today, his teammate Connor McConvey crossed the line in seventh place in a small chase group which also contained the yellow jersey of Marcin Bialoblocki.
Some consistent riding by Belfast man McConvey sees him second overall after four stages and he is tied on time with both the race leader and the man behind him, Danish rider Ramsus Guldhammer.
Today McConvey was part of a 23-man move which also contained compatriots Chris Reilly (Meath M.Donnelly), Conor Dunne (Tipperary Carrick Iverk Produce), Conor Murphy (Dublin Eurocycles) Sam Bennett (An Post) and Roger Aiken (Louth Prague Charter) and had opened a gap of almost three minutes on the peloton by Killarney, 60km into the 153km stage.
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“I was the last to get across with Sam Bennett,” said McConvey afterwards.
“There was pretty much every team represented apart from the Belgians. They started to ride at first but then they sat up and the gap went out to two and a half minutes or so.”
Although they were flying along, the group failed to build on their advantage and were swept up by a charging peloton by Ladies View after 82km.
“There was a lot of people sitting on and it was splitting and coming back and it wasn’t the most cooperative move,” admitted McConvey.
“Eventually the bunch started riding and it came down fairly rapidly but it was better to be in it than be chasing behind. It wasn’t too bad just rolling through. They caught us after the first second cat and a few attacks went then and a lot of people were looking at each other until the Healy Pass.”
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By then, McConvey’s Russian teammate and eventual stage winner Kirill Pozdnyakov had gone clear in a six-man move, which eventually whittled down to four.
“When Kirill got away that put us in a real good position. On the Healy Pass I started going with the moves and countering them. More attacks went and at the top of it. Simon Yates (Great Britain) was really strong and he sort of split it.”
“I followed Guldhammer over the top and we rode a bit on the descent. Bialoblocki and a couple of others came up and, on the flat, Roger Aiken and (King of the Mountains Martin) Hunal and a few more came up.”
With the race leader alongside him and a teammate up the road, McConvey could take it easy in the chase group and is looking forward to the second half of this Rás.
“It’s pretty perfect,” he said of his Synergy Baku squad’s first appearance at the Rás.
“It was good having Kirill up there today. He took the pressure off a good bit. It’s been a really good team effort. It’s difficult with a lot of guys riding their first Rás. The guys are asking ‘what the fuck? This is crazy, what do I do?’ but they’ve adapted to the style of racing really well. Over the last few days they’ve come to grips with it and they’re pretty active.”
“We’ve got strong riders and with David McCann here in the team car, obviously he’s won it and ridden it so many times and been so successful it’s great to have him talking to me and the other guys about what to do and how to do it. It’s just about being present and staying in contention and making sure you don’t miss anything. It’s so different than the European style. There’s a real lack of control. Guys just fall away every day and it’s important to just stay there. You just need to be present.”
