Mayo Rás hopes dashed

Mayo hopes dashed in race of attrition


Martin Ayres

THE eight-day An Post RΡs ended in victory for Marcin Bialoblocki on Sunday. The British-based Polish professional, who took the overall lead on stage three, said it was the biggest win of his career. A closely fought finish saw Ireland’s Belfast’s Connor McConvey second overall and Dane Rasmus Guildhammer third.
It was a good RΡs for home riders, with McConvey and Roger Aiken in the top 10 overall, and stage wins for Conor Dunne and Sam Bennett who took two stages. But the county and club teams, including Mayo’s two squads, had little to celebrate. Castlebar Fedaia Bikes had two riders disqualified, while three Mayo Centra riders were eliminated.
Mayo’s misery started on day one when David Brennan (Castlebar Fedaia) was disqualified for taking pace from a team vehicle. Then Mayo Centra’s Donal Harrington was taken to hospital with a twisted intestine and underwent surgery a few days later.
Day four through Kerry and Cork saw PΡdraig Marrey, Michael Gilvarry and John James Flaherty, all of Mayo Centra, among 23 riders who finished outside the time limit (winner’s time plus 20 per cent) . Marrey and Gilvarry missed the cut-off by only four minutes, but all appeals failed and the 23 were disqualified.
On day five Castlebar’s Patrick Clarke suffered a nasty hand injury and stopped for treatment from the race doctor. He then took shelter behind a team car to re-join the bunch. Officials often allow riders to take assistance after a mishap. But no leniency was shown to Clarke and he was disqualified.
The treatment meted out to county and club teams left many riders demoralised. There was a feeling the pro and national teams would not have been treated so harshly.
PΡdraig Marrey, whose RΡs record dates back to 1993, said: “It’s a sad day for the RΡs Tailteann, putting pro riders up against county riders is always going to be carnage. I hope it doesn’t affect the race in the years to come.” The RΡs field comprised 14 professional, four national and 19 club/county teams.

CLARKE IS PRIDE OF CASTLEBAR
DESPITE the upsets of the race, Ciaran Clarke (Castlebar Fedaia) grew stronger as the days wore on and took second place overall in the section for category two riders. Afters six stages, he was trailing category two leader John Dempsey, Tipperary, by 13 minutes. It seemed an impregnable lead, but Clarke told The Mayo News he would go all out for the top spot. “I’ve been going well on the big climbs and hope to get a distance on him in the Wicklow hills.”
True to his word; with Castlebar team-mate Gareth McCormack, Clarke got into a strong group and stayed clear of the main bunch to reduce his deficit on Dempsey to just over four minutes. With no major climbs on the last day Clarke was unable to gain more time but still finished a satisfying second.

QUIGLEY PUTS ON A SOLO PERFORMANCE
MARK Quigley was left as the sole Mayo Centra rider with four days to go. “Stage five in Mitchelstown was my hardest day, it was savage,” he said. Overnight there’d been disruption with three of team leaving, and the stage started with two categorised climbs. I also had two punctures.”  Quigley, who made his previous RΡs appearances in 2001 and 2002, added: “After that it was just as matter of survival for the rest of the race. But I’m glad to have done it, and grateful for good back-up and sponsorship,”

RESULT
1, Marcin Bialoblocki (Poland) 1180 km (733 miles) in 27 hrs 6 mins 35 sec; Selected others: 76, Ciaran Clarke (Castlebar) at 44 mins; 99, Mark Quigley (Mayo) at 1-8-8; 104, Anthony Murray (Subaru Albion) at 1-14-43; 108, Mike Storan (Castlebar) at 1-23-26; 110, Gareth McCormack (Castlebar) at 1-24-50; 121, Charles Prendergast (Polygon SN) at 1-43-39.