EVEN before the FBD Milk Ras had finished on Sunday the organiser, Dermot Dignam, was considering the route and stage end towns for next year. Although it will be some months before his plans are finalised, he admitted that Kerry will be included instead of Donegal.
The stages that ended in Letterkenny, Buncrana and Donegal were as successful as hoped, but as both Kerry and Donegal cannot be included in a nine day event starting and finishing in or near Dublin without long transfers, it seems certain that it will be the turn of Kerry in 1997.
When I asked Dignam about the possibility of starting outside Dublin, he said "No, I don't think that is on. We have, of course, done so before, but O'Connell Street is the place to start on the Saturday at lunchtime.
"It would mean an extra overnight expense for most of the local county teams, and that is an important factor to be considered. A prologue time trial in Dublin on. Saturday morning does not seem worthwhile for the same reason a lot would have to travel the night before."
After several years finishing in Dun Laoghaire, the switch to Swords has proved satisfactory. The big advantage is that the riders can race into Swords and go straight into laps on a finishing circuit. Less inconvenience was caused this year with cones along the stretch of the NI and traffic could use the outside lane.
Some of the tactics used in these races are difficult to understand, and there was another example in the Rags when Tommy Evans had to withstand his closest challenge from Derry team mate David McCann.
McCann beat Evans in the race at Bray on the Sunday before the Ras started. Then, on stage four into Castlebar, after they had gone on out of a leading break, McCann did not contest the finish with Evans.
Afterwards Evans said he had been trying for five years for a stage win and McCann added that he would wait for another day. Although he was second again into Newry on Saturday, McCann did not get a stage win.
On Saturday, McCann went with a breakaway group and for a while he was leader on the road. Evans had to produce a powerful late surge to hold his lead, but it was reduced from a minute and 48 seconds to just 25 seconds by McCann. Evans said he was not worried, the plan was to get McCann "up the road and make the others chase.
On the finishing circuit in Swords, McCann got away from Evans again. "I was just following the wheels," McCann said. And Evans did not seem perturbed, but he had a hard chase to get back up to McCann.
Either way the Derry team would have won. But there was also the possibility that Englishmen Ben Luckwell or Jeff Wright, or the Scot Roddy Riddle, could have availed of the opportunity of the break on Saturday.
There was another incident on Saturday when I thought it would have been beneficial for Evans to work with Peter Daly of the Ireland team, who was in fourth place overall at the time.
At 55 miles, just after the halfway point on the stage, the leading group of 12 were a minute and 30 seconds clear. Daly launched a series of attacks to try to get clear of the main pack and go in pursuit of the leaders, and on one of these efforts he gained an advantage of 50 yards, with Evans the only one able to stay with him.
If Evans had worked with Daly they could have got across to those up ahead and Evans would have retained his lead comfortably. Instead, he was forced to do the chasing to hold onto the yellow jersey on the final miles into Newry.
However, all ended well for Evans, who becomes only the third Northerner to win the Ras, after Billy Kerr in 1980 and Ian Chivers in 1990.
. Olympic hope Philip Collins finished eighth fastest in the British 4,000 metres pursuit championship in Manchester. Collins, riding with the Irish Heritage team from Manchester, was timed at four minutes 37.741 seconds, which qualified him for the quarter final. But he had to meet the fastest man there, Graeme Obree, who had done 4:27.683. Collins was eliminated when he was caught by Obree with almost 1,000 metres to go.
