Home from Belgium for a friend's wedding, Ryan Sherlock made the most of his trip by taking victory in the Boyne Grand Prix on Sunday.
By Gerard Cromwell
Having finished fourth in a tough Red Hand Trophy in Ballymena on Saturday, Ryan Sherlock took his first victory of the season on Sunday when he outsprinted breakaway companion Greg Swinand to take the Boyne Grand Prix in Slane.
“The race the day before was a pretty hard race, it was very windy, with long climbs and everybody was aggressive from kilometre zero. In the end the groups were crossing the line in ones and twos so it was nice to do a couple of hard race back to back.”
Sherlock made the Boyne Grand Prix hard on himself however, by attacking from the gun and then forging clear to spend most of the race with just Greg Swinand of UCD for company.
Advertisement
“When we hit the climb the first time my legs were feeling good so I went all out,” he says. “It was into a bit of a headwind so I didn’t expect anything to work but it took about 15 guys away.”
Related News
But with little co-operation in the front group, Sherlock decided to attack again the second time around.
“For the next three or four kilometers, people were just sitting on or complaining that nobody was working, so before the climb the next time, myself, Greg Swinand and Chris O’Reilly (Liquidworx) just rolled off the front. As soon as we had a few seconds gap, we just put the foot down for a little while.”
“Chris must not have been feeling his usual self because he dropped off the pace the next lap and it was just myself an Greg. But, out of anyone in the peloton that I could be with on a ride like that, it would be Greg. He’s similar to me. He’s a sort of diesel and can keep going all day. We just kept it steady, hard all day. I was surprised we got such a gap in the end.”
Currently racing in Belgium with Tomacc Racing Team, Sherlock was home for a friends wedding and will stay to ride the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow on Sunday.
“I’ve been racing well in Belgium. The first hour is always hard because everyone goes nuts. There’s huge fields at the moment and the roads are very small and it’s very hard to move around but if I’m in contention in the final hour, I think I can get a result most times. But it’s a bit of a lottery really. There might be 170 riders in the bunch and maybe 60 of them can win.”
Riding a mix of kermesse, inter-clubs and stage race his Belgian squad will also do some races in France as well this year, while Sherlock hopes to get home to ride Ras Mumhan and is also on the lookout for a team for the An Post Ras later in the year.
“What I’ll be doing is a mix of Irish races and as many Belgian races as I can. The problem with me is I love racing so much, and there’s so many opportunities, I find I can’t hold myself back from racing."
"At the moment it’s only two or three times a week but in another three or four weeks it’s basically every day there’s a race on somewhere. The racing style isn’t exactly what would suit me but it's the easiest way to ride hard races consistently, which is why I’m there."
Topics
