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Downey is set to compete in his fourth Rás today.
Interview

Ireland's in-form Downey raring to compete in fourth Rás

The An Post Rás gets underway today, and the 23-year-old Irish cyclist is hoping to build on recent promising performances.

THE AN POST Rás starts today and a considerable Irish presence will be provided by the An Post-Chainreaction team.

U23 national champion Jack Wilson and Sean Downey are the Belgium-based Irish stars set to feature in the race, which starts today in Dunboyne, Co Meath, while also encompassing stages at Roscommon, Lisdoonvarna, Charleville, Cahirciveen, Clonakilty, Carrick on Suir, Baltinglass and Skerries.

Other notable Irish names including Conor Dunne, Marcus Christie and Ryan Mullen will not be competing this year, so Irish-born Robert Jon McCarthy, Britain’s Owain Doull and New Zealander Shane Archbold complete the team.

Of the quintet competing, Downey in particular has enjoyed encouraging form in recent months. What does he put his improvement down to?

“A lot of it is mental,” he tells TheScore.ie. “Getting used to that high level. Your body is  getting stronger as well. Training harder and racing harder and reading a race and learning more about how to race and learning more about your body.”

As someone who has already competed in the Rás four times, Downey is a relative veteran of the event. However, he is under no illusions as to how tough the level of competition continues to be with each passing year.

“Every year, the team’s getting better and better. The race programme is getting better,” he says.

“It’s my fourth Rás, and they’re always hard, so as long as you know where the important parts are, that’s all you really need to worry about.”

While insisting that racing in Ireland won’t be especially advantageous for himself or any of the Irish cyclists involved, he acknowledges that competing on home turf brings a refreshing feeling.

“It’s always nice to come home and race in Ireland. The big race is home and you always have a big motivation to do well. It’s also nice to leave Belgium, because we tend to spend so much time there.”

While there is palpable excitement about returning to Ireland, Downey says he hasn’t discussed the race much with teammates in the build-up to it.

“A few teams are riding strong, but you don’t know until the first stage what teams driving well or what team’s looking well.

“You’ve maybe run over the route for results, but again, we’re not getting caught up in stressing about everything yet. So we’ll sort it out last minute.”

At the team announcement, manager Kurt Bogaerts was noticeably optimistic, saying: “The riders I have selected should ride well on the course. We will start with the aim of winning stages. I think we have guys who can also take the overall, but things need to fall into place for that to happen.”

Is Downey similarly confident going into the race?

“You have to go into the race optimistic,” he says. “There’s no point going in and not believing you’rE not going to do anything. We’re all going in with high hopes and with the aim of working as a team. If we can pull it off as Kurt would like, then it’s a job well done.”

Dow

(Downey was the youngest ever winner of the Tour of Ulster aged 18 in 2009)

He adds that the manager’s demanding nature is ultimately appreciated, even if it does result in the odd argument.

“He’s putting a lot of effort into it and he wants to see everyone move up to a higher level and get the team to a higher level and he has done a good job and at times, he could be cross with us and there’s times we could be cross with him, but that’s just the same as every single person, everyone’s putting in the effort and in the end, as long as you’re getting the return of results and as long as you’re happy doing it, there should be no problem doing it.

“He does do a lot of work for us and everyone is very thankful of the amount of work he does do…  There is always going to be arguments, but that’s just life. It’s just about talking about it and getting it out there and working as a team, which we all are doing.”

Downey, of course, realises that striving for such perfection and seeking to constantly better himself is an integral mindset to adopt if he wants to develop as a cyclist.

The dream for the 23-year-old is to be ultimately cycling alongside those currently competing in the Giro d’Italia. If himself and his teammates continue to improve significantly, then that dream will become a reality.

“You try and set yourself goals and target races, but as long as you’re improving every year, and you can see the improvements, that’s the main thing. Every year, you should be seeing an improvement.”

One person who has shown that a step up to the next level is achievable is Sam Bennett. Having initially competed as part of An Post Chainreaction, he left to the team last October to sign for Pro Continental outfit NetApp-Endura.

Bennett said an emotional goodbye to his teammates and the star would have been especially close friends with Downey.

“People would say we’re like a married couple… we are like a married couple. The way I look at it, we’re more like brothers,” Downey told TheScore.ie last year.

While losing his good friend to another team can’t have been easy, Downey brushes it off by pointing out that such departures are routine in the rigorously competitive world of cycling.

“Every year, boys come and go. New people come in and other people come out,” he says. “In every sport, everybody comes and goes, and it’s just a way of life.

“If they’re riding really well, you know they’re going to be moving on like Sam. But you can still contact them and remain friends so you still see them and talk to them and stuff. You miss them, but you accept that it’s just the way the sport is.”

Moreover, far from destabilising the team, Bennett’s departure has renewed his former teammates’ determination to follow in his footsteps — something which Downey is confident of ultimately achieving.

“If the boys are getting results this year, they probably won’t be that far off. It is achievable and it’s all about just making that next level. And if you’re getting results, you’ll make it.

“Everyone on the team is capable of doing it. It’s just doing it is a different matter.”

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