 FBD Milk Ras 2001
By Cian Lynch
Stage 8, Sunday 27th May – Dublin City Centre
Criterium – 50 minutes and 3 laps
The final stage…. I had been waiting for this one
for a while. The spectacle on O’Connell Street is something else, and as we
wheeled up towards the main street in Dublin City, there was a certain
nervousness on the part of many – would the speed by high ? Would any domestic
riders feature in the final gallop?
The meting in the West County had a certain lack of
drama about it. The fact that many of the Dublin based riders got an opportunity
to stay at home on Saturday night meant that they got to meet up again with
wives, family, girlfriends – a mixture of all three if lucky! Valerie and Joe
were there as always at the car park, so we took our last opportunity to avail
of a rub, for a whi1e anyway, and then waited for the roll out. I got a chance
to talk to the Chief Comm, Gerry McDaid, who certainly enjoyed his time here.
There is, of course, the compromise between having what was the Ras, and an
International UCI ranked event, that was obvious enough. My experience with
Triathlon was that once the ITU ( International Triathlon Union) became involved
in a race, it changed forever. The commercial interest and revenue generated was
substantial, the sacrifice was the history of the race, generally the close
national involvement also.
 A
fine day, and a stop on the line for the jersies to be presented. A mistake in
1997, at the finish in Swords, made me vow never to start a crit near the back.
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking about, but my vow was forgotten.
Through the first turn at Abbey Street, and I was already 2/3rds way down the
bunch, and it never got much better. The speed was phenomenal as the German and
Great Britain teams, with the Polish also, driving it along like nothing. They
had covered 28 miles in 50 minutes at the end ! Not my idea of fun… Much as I
had hopes of dashing up the outside, or inside, it never happened, that allied
with weary legs, just jacked with the week …. When I heard “10 laps to go”
my head began to wander, 10 more laps of this shit… I made the mistake of
looking around, to my horror, there were only about 5 or six bodies behind, it
was only a matter of time. True enough, I pulled up, just spinning around before
being pulled out by one of the commissaries, and credited with a time some
minutes after that of the winner. Close, but no cigar.
Just watching the race pass at the top of Parnell
Square gives you an idea as to the speed of the race, every couple of minutes
they were passing at top sped. To see riders grit their teeth, hanging on for
grim death…. A Telekom Rider won the stage, the Irish riders scattered few and
far amongst the top 25, an indication as to how the foreigners controlled the
race itself.
 Getting
to see the friends et all after the race was a change – unfortunately you
never have time to really sit down and chat, too many, not enough time. I wanted
to get back to the lads and give flowers and stuff to Joe, Valerie and Adam.
They had been terrific during the week, a second family. The lads rode
brilliantly as well, Paul had and outstanding week, and was made a couple of
offers on Sunday after the race. None of them were looking for domestiques with
limited journalistic skills though….
That brings me on to stage 8a.
Stage 8a.
Location : Copper Face Jacks
Contenders : Griff, Maguire, Lynch, Willie Byrne,
Sully, Kieran McMahon, Scanlon, McKenzie, Johnny Carroll, Brian Lennon, Gary
McQuaid and others
Stage Details : Night Stage. Alcohol Allowed.
Start Time : 10:00pm
Expected Finish Time ( With Alcohol ) : 5:00am
Some extra stage 8 pictures thanks to Anto Moran
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