Finished...
Stage 4 (100 miles):
given the first three days I was not expected today to be incident free and I was not disappointed. Just 500 metres into the stage a rider managed to put his pedal into my back wheel breaking several spokes. Wheel change from neutral service was extremely slow and to make things worse they gave me the wrong type (shimano instead of campagnolo) of wheel so the chain kept jumping. Four/five miles later my team car managed to beg/borrow/steal a campagnolo wheel from another team and change wheels again. By now the peloton is literally out of sight so I spend 10 miles being paced my team car (i.e. ride at 35 mph 5 cm behind the bumper - you need to have a lot of confidence in the car driver) up to back of the race cavalcade. (If you hold onto a car you will be disqualified from the race but being paced after a mechanical problem is unofficially allowed). Then spend another 10 miles working my way up through the race cavalcade until finally regain the bunch. Cope reasonably well with the hills and crosswinds later on the stage and start thinking will managed first bunch finish of race…then puncture with 8-9 miles to go. Even with very quick change never any realistic chance of regaining bunch so later in the stage when speed is very high, so roll in a couple of minutes down
Stage 5 (90 miles):
Finally a day without any mishap. As expected the race split up over the a long steep climb 25 miles from the finish. I wasn’t able to stay with the top guys but rode fairly strongly to come in at the front the second group for a respectable 57th place on the stage
Stage 6 (100 miles):
a little more drama on this stage but nothing too serious. Within a few miles of the start am down on the tarmac for the third time in five days, but no injuries to body of bike and everyone quickly rejoins the peloton within a couple of miles. Feeling quite strong and get in various breakaway attempts but race is being well controlled the team of the race leader. Around 40 miles to go I suffer another puncture but with swift change I’m back in the peloton within a mile or two, and end up reasonably comfortable finish in the middle of the bunch
Stage 7 (85 miles):
although relatively short this was the hardest stage of the race with 7 climbs in the Dublin-Wicklow mountains. The stage was a battle of attrition. The bunch was down to less than 100 riders (from ~160 left in race) within the first hour. By the time the race headed towards the difficult climbs of sally gap and luggala there were around 50 riders left. I was dropped with 8 others on the early part of sally gap. We did briefly pass the yellow jersey (the overall leader) when he punctured. He then got a wheel from a team mate and flew past us back up to the front group with ridiculous ease. On the middle part of the climb I was dropped from my little group, but rode strongly on the final section to catch and pass 4 riders before the summit. I caught the other 4 shortly after summit and with advantage of knowing the roads quickly left them behind on the long 50-55 mph descent. Rode alone up the final climb of luggala and caught the next small group on the descent. Eventually finished 42nd on the stage only 4 mins behind the winner, and ahead of some professionals, two former winners of the Rás and most of the Irish national team. I think having Roz out watching on the course helped motivate me a lot.
Stage 4 (100 miles):
given the first three days I was not expected today to be incident free and I was not disappointed. Just 500 metres into the stage a rider managed to put his pedal into my back wheel breaking several spokes. Wheel change from neutral service was extremely slow and to make things worse they gave me the wrong type (shimano instead of campagnolo) of wheel so the chain kept jumping. Four/five miles later my team car managed to beg/borrow/steal a campagnolo wheel from another team and change wheels again. By now the peloton is literally out of sight so I spend 10 miles being paced my team car (i.e. ride at 35 mph 5 cm behind the bumper - you need to have a lot of confidence in the car driver) up to back of the race cavalcade. (If you hold onto a car you will be disqualified from the race but being paced after a mechanical problem is unofficially allowed). Then spend another 10 miles working my way up through the race cavalcade until finally regain the bunch. Cope reasonably well with the hills and crosswinds later on the stage and start thinking will managed first bunch finish of race…then puncture with 8-9 miles to go. Even with very quick change never any realistic chance of regaining bunch so later in the stage when speed is very high, so roll in a couple of minutes down
Stage 5 (90 miles):
Finally a day without any mishap. As expected the race split up over the a long steep climb 25 miles from the finish. I wasn’t able to stay with the top guys but rode fairly strongly to come in at the front the second group for a respectable 57th place on the stage
Stage 6 (100 miles):
a little more drama on this stage but nothing too serious. Within a few miles of the start am down on the tarmac for the third time in five days, but no injuries to body of bike and everyone quickly rejoins the peloton within a couple of miles. Feeling quite strong and get in various breakaway attempts but race is being well controlled the team of the race leader. Around 40 miles to go I suffer another puncture but with swift change I’m back in the peloton within a mile or two, and end up reasonably comfortable finish in the middle of the bunch
Stage 7 (85 miles):
although relatively short this was the hardest stage of the race with 7 climbs in the Dublin-Wicklow mountains. The stage was a battle of attrition. The bunch was down to less than 100 riders (from ~160 left in race) within the first hour. By the time the race headed towards the difficult climbs of sally gap and luggala there were around 50 riders left. I was dropped with 8 others on the early part of sally gap. We did briefly pass the yellow jersey (the overall leader) when he punctured. He then got a wheel from a team mate and flew past us back up to the front group with ridiculous ease. On the middle part of the climb I was dropped from my little group, but rode strongly on the final section to catch and pass 4 riders before the summit. I caught the other 4 shortly after summit and with advantage of knowing the roads quickly left them behind on the long 50-55 mph descent. Rode alone up the final climb of luggala and caught the next small group on the descent. Eventually finished 42nd on the stage only 4 mins behind the winner, and ahead of some professionals, two former winners of the Rás and most of the Irish national team. I think having Roz out watching on the course helped motivate me a lot.
Stage 8 (30 miles)
This circuit race around Dublin’s picturesque Phoenix Park is fast but being completely flat is easy to just sit in the bunch and get round which is exactly what I did.
