This was my fourth time heading down to
the Suir Valley 3 day. Each year, Clonmel CC put on a great show. A
strong peloton, a testing course and safe, fast roads – I love this
race. This year was no different.
Stage 1 – 125km rolling with one long
drag/climb - 1st
The stage started on a long straight
road into a block headwind that we used for the National TT
Championships earlier in the year – attack after attack went but no
one was making any headway. It wasn't until midway through the stage
that a strong break got rid of the peloton. I wasn't there but wasn't
overly panicked as there was a long climb coming up that would wreck
havok on both the break and the peloton. For the weekend I had two
teammates, Michael Lucey and Charles Pendergast – we made sure that
the peloton didn't stall and the plan was that I would bridge to the
break (15 riders initially) over the long climb.
We hit the climb and but it was more a
long drag – I ended up towing the peloton along for a few
kilometers until the elastic finally broke and I was off solo. 30
minutes of hard climbing and descending later and I got to the break.
My final few kilometers as I chased the break down from being just 15
seconds ahead I averaged 46kmph – once I caught on, the speed
dropped to 38kmph for the next chunk and the peloton almost came back
on us...
Things finally got moving and on the
final short KOM there was a sprint for the mountain points – I
followed wheels (had no interest in the points) and as we crested the
riders sat up – I didn't and suddenly I was away with two
passengers, Sean Lacey and the Isle of Man's Darren Bell. I rode hard
and as we hit the final drag with 250m to go Darren opened the
sprint, Sean then passed him and I had enough left to pass them
before the line and claim both the stage and yellow jersey.
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| Sprint Finish - Photo: Jonathan Ryan www.tipperaryphotos.com |
Stage 2 – 93km rolling
Wearing yellow, todays stage was mostly
about keeping the other GC favorites in check. Midway through the
stage a small break escaped with a few guys lower down on GC. My team
and I kept that in check and brought it back close with about 20km
remaining. From there on, the peloton that smelled a sprint finish
kept things together and a sprint finish we got.
In the final few hundred meters I was
sitting in around 10th place as we entered the technical finish.
Unfortunately, there was some traffic on a bridge and a guy in front
of me misjudged a roundabout crashing – suddenly I found myself
move from around 10th to 30th. On the line, there was a split and I
lost a few seconds to second placed rider Sean Lacey – he was now
in yellow by a second. With a TT later in the day I didn't worry much
about it (the stress of worrying about it would cause my TT more
damage than a couple of seconds) – but still, not so nice to lose
out on something silly.
Stage 3 – 1.2km hill climb TT - 1st
This time trial was a real feature of
the race this year again (last year was the first time running on it)
– something different from every other Irish race I have done, and
if it was 8 times longer, would be a focal point of the Giro
d'Italia!
It started off with 250 meters of good
quality tarmac and then two steep tight switchbacks followed by 700
meters of what could be described as an 'unfinished' road surface.
There were holes, rocks, and cracks everywhere - it was cool!
I went through my usual warmup on the
rollers and got to the startline with lots of time – I was ready.
3, 2, 1, go. With such a short time
trial, it is mostly just flat out – not much pacing – the only
pacing is that I try to hold back for the first 30-45 seconds. As I
reached the finish, I felt that I pretty much left everything out on
the tarmac, I had no regrets about how I rode it – as it turned
out, I really nailed the stage with a time of 3:20, putting 13
seconds into 2nd place and 36 seconds into the yellow jersey. Another
stage win, a trophy - the Joe Kelly Memorial Trophy (this stage now has a perpetual trophy) and back
in yellow.
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| Photo - Jonathon Gibson |
Stage 4 – 120km rolling with one
short climb
I have seen the yellow jersey change so
many times in this race on the final day even with big strong teams
that I knew we would have our work cut out for us. I had to choose a
tactic, Isle of Man and Speedy Spokes, in addition to having 2nd and
3rd on GC were also by far the strongest teams in the race and were
very experienced (both had A and B teams in the race). My main
challenge had to lie with them. Me, well, our team had two other
riders, Charles and Michael.
Attacks, and more attacks –
eventually a big group got away with 4th, 5th and 6th on GC. 2nd and
3rd on GC were with me. The gap to the break quickly ballooned and my
team and I were forced to start riding. 30km into the race we lost
Michael Lucey and at the base of the main climb 70km in (about a 7
minute affair), I lost Charles who pretty literally rode himself into
the ground all weekend – sitting behind him was like motor pacing!
As I crested the climb, only 4 of us
remained (1st, 2nd, 3rd on GC with a Speedy Spokes teammate). As we
got to the base, we worked together to chase the break but as a
couple of groups caught on (well, the peloton was simply sitting in
all day), the collaboration ended and it was basically just me
chasing the break for the rest of the day – of course I was
attacked the whole way in (with the break 3 minutes up the road, I
don't really understand that tactic). I pulled back a few minutes but
didn't catch them all – I lost out on GC by about a minute in the
end finishing in 4th.
Over the weekend, I had a great time,
nailed two stages, but didn't hold onto yellow. The way I rode (or
had to ride) the stages really set me up for my next goal though –
Kermis racing in Belgium... More on that in the next posts.
Many thanks to Charles, Michael,
Stewart Carr and my wife Mel over the weekend – we had a great time
– a roller coaster of a race and definitely an experience I'll
remember.
Also, thanks again to Clonmel CC - you guys really do put on a fantastic show. Thanks!
