Weather gods aren’t smiling on Ardee
THE 65th edition of the Ràs finished up in Skerries on Sunday, after completing eight days of tough racing, covering a total distance of 1,199.8km.
The average speed of the winning rider was 44.8kph - or 27.9mph - one of the fastest average speeds for many a year.
At the end 171 of the original 193 riders who set out from Dublin Castle finished this magnificent race on Sunday in front of thousands of delighted spectators.
Saturday’s second last stage (167km) from Donegal town to Ardee took the riders through Northern Ireland en route.
After having beautiful sunny weather all week, the riders set out in totally miserable conditions, with rain deluging down from start of stage to the finish in Ardee.
Conditions were so bad that the Route Directors could not manage to put down the official finish line because of the amount of water lying on the road.
On arrival into a drenched Ardee town, two professional riders from the Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam Team escaped from the main field and appeared through the cloud and mist up the hill into Ardee to contest the sprint for the finish, but instead of sprinting it out they instead decided to join hands and ride side-by-side to the line, with Daan Meijers and Jan W Van Schip eventually being credited with first and second placing. This duo finished 59 seconds ahead of their rivals.
Despite the horrific weather conditions a decent crowd peeking out from under umbrellas’, rain jackets etc was there to welcome the riders into Ardee. The amount of work involved in taking the stage was huge and it had to be most disappointing for the Ardee Ràs Stage End Committee to witness the worst weather conditions possible. God had shown no mercy on the day.
However, on Sunday morning things were much brighter when St Mary’s Brass & Reed Band stepped out a very colourful parade of cyclists to their starting point, watched by a really large crowd of spectators and supporters alike.
On this 129.4km stage to Skerries, riders went through Nobber, Wilkinstown, Navan, Duleek, Bellewstown, Naul, Balrothery on the way to Skerries, where riders went on to complete three laps of the Blackhills circuit.
Going out on the final lap, a group of 23 riders were closely grouped together and on the final climb five riders broke away from the leaders and maintained a slim lead to the finishing straight, where these riders where to fight out the top placings. The stage victory went to Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz from the Ireland An Post Chain Reaction team, with Samuel Jenner from Australia National Team second, Jerome Mainard from France Armee de Terre third and Ireland’s Mark Dowling from the Cork Strata3/Velo Revolution in fourth place.
The best-placed local rider in the overall classification was Liam Dolan from Cuchulainn CC, riding with the Louth team, with Arek Klus, a member of Stamullen Road Club, riding in his first ever Ràs with the Cork Mercedes-Benz Giant Team, finishing next best placed rider.
Had it not been for suffering a crash on the opening stage to Longford and then puncturing a back wheel twice on the lower slopes of Glengesh Pass, which is a Category (1) climb in Donegal, it’s widely believed that Arek would have finished up much closer on the general classification sheet as he lost quite a lot of positions as a result of his pure bad luck on the day.
The two other local hopefuls, Eoin Morton and Ian Richardson, while riding very well throughout, did not shine on this occasion and both said afterwards that they will take a rest and then continue their training regime, with the National Road Race Championships in mind in a month’s time.
The Meath Team of Andy McGuinness, Ger Dunne, Fergus Fagan, Stephen Byrne and John Clarke all completed the course and were delighted to arrive unscathed into Skerries.
The Overall Winner of the Ras was James Gullen from the Britain JLT Condor Team with a winning time of 26 hours, 47 minutes and 56 seconds. Second went to Ike Groen, Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam team, 26 hours 49 mins 1 second, with pre-race favourite Cameron Meyer, Australia National Team, third 26 hours 50 mins 31 seconds.
The Irish County Overall Winner was Daire Feeley from Donamon, Co Roscommon, and the Under 23 Rider Overall was Michael O’Loughlin from Carrick-on-Suir.
Prior to the prize presentation, An Post Ras Announcer (Cian Lynch) asked for a minute’s silence to be observed as a mark of respect for Jamie McAllister, a native of Skerries who tragically lost his life at the weekend.
Great credit must go to the Skerries Ràs Committee who never fail to put on a magnificent festival day on the grand-finale of the Ras into Skerries.
Fixtures: Friday, Saturday, Sunday (Donegal 3-Day for Senior A”, A3 riders). Sunday: Seamus Kennedy Memorial (Promoted by Dunboyne CC)