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Last Updated: Jun 29th, 2008 - 15:02:53 |
Having finished thirteenth in Athens – which several mainstream sports commentators described as the best performance of the whole 2004 Irish Olympic campaign – Ciarán Power had targeted being selected for the road race in Beijing as his big goal for the early season.
He secured several good results with the Pezula team, including fifth, seventh and eighth places on stages of the 2.1- ranked Presidential Tour of Turkey, a stage win in the FBD Insurance Rás, tenth in the 1.HC Philadelphia International championship and twelfth in the 1.1 Commerce Bank Reading Classic. Second and fourth on stages of the 2.2-ranked Tour de Beauce were, he felt, enough to secure him a slot but the Cycling Ireland selectors passed him over in favour of Philip Deignan (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole).
Power was disappointed in this, but even more so by the fact that Cycling Ireland didn’t select him as a reserve. He was very demoralised after the decision and didn’t ride his bike for several days. However his morale returned and, at the launch of the Tour of Ireland, said that he was looking forward to the chance to chase success on stages of the Irish tour.
Irishcycling.com spoke to the Waterford rider on Thursday; in the interview, he gave his reaction to the Tour of Ireland route and the Olympic decision, as well as talking about his aspirations for the national road race title and the rest of the season.
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Shane Stokes: Ciarán, what do you think of the Tour of Ireland route?
Ciarán Power: It is fantastic, especially with the first stage being in Waterford. I couldn't ask for a better start to the race. A lot of the races are not too far away from people in the southeast to travel to, and people in general. There are some great towns, some good scenery and some hard roads.
SS: It should be a mixture between sprint finishes and some harder stages, such as the final stage in Cork.
CP: Personally, I be hoping for some smaller groups of perhaps 30 or 40 riders at the finishes, because I should be made that possible form by that stage. I think that is my best chance of winning a stage. We will definitely be looking to get out there and do something. David should be flying, he will be just back from Beijing as well. It will be really good, I can't wait.
SS: So who will you be riding the race for - will it be with Team Pezula?
CP: I presume so. I think it is, at the moment anyhow. For an Irish sponsor to put in so much money and to have a big event like this in Ireland, it would be a shame not to have the team there.
SS: The national road race championships are on this weekend, how important is it for you to ride strongly there?
CP: Again, for the sponsor I would love to win the race and also from myself as well. But last week I took a few days off, I was a bit wasted mentally and physically from trying to chase an Olympic spot. This week I have trained quite well and hopefully I have good legs. I don't have a great track record when it comes to nationals, but I'm a bit more chilled out about it this year. I'm not as focused on one event.
SS: But presumably if you can win it, it will underline your arguments that you should have been selected for the Olympics, at least as reserve…
CP: Yes, last week I couldn't concentrate. For the whole week I was just thinking about not getting selected, and not being named as a reserve. I have just got that out of my system now, it is over and I are moving on. If I could win the Nationals I would like to win it for myself, not to show anybody else anything. Purely because I would like to win it.
There are a lot of strong riders out there, but hopefully one of the strong riders will be on the Pezula team and they can win.
SS: Do you think the course will be to your liking?
CP: I have no idea. Like I said, I haven't given one thought to the race because I was so focused on the first half of the season. We would see when we get down there on Sunday morning. But I heard it is not too hilly so, going by what the selectors say anyway, that would be good for me….
SS: After the nationals, you will have a bit of time before the Tour of Ireland. What is your race programme like between the two?
CP: We will go to the Tour of Qinghai Lake. I think that is 11 days, so we will be there two and a half weeks in total. Then we will come home. I am not sure in between, but maybe some races in Britain and then I will maybe just concentrate on training for the Tour of Ireland, going back to what I know and doing the whole thing right.
SS: Qinghai Lake is at altitude so that is obviously going to be very good for your fitness…
CP: I hope so. I haven't raced at altitude, although I have trained once at it before. I'm excited to go there, because it is 11 days and I'm sure I can do is something on a couple of stages there as well. As much as I was annoyed last week, I am really focused now and want to do well. Firstly there and more importantly at the Tour of Ireland later in the year as well.
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