The step up from the domestic scene to
international racing can be a shock to the system for even the best young Irish
riders. But the first pieces of evidence suggesting Con Scully can make the
grade are beginning to emerge.
His efforts, and those of his team
mates, to secure a result for Ireland at junior Gent Wevelgem on Sunday were
derailed by a late crash. But Scully had overcome adversity more than once
during the all-out Nations Cup event to even maintain his place in the
ever-reducing peloton.
His ability to get back on twice when he
found himself off the back, coupled with a very solid ride against the clock on
France last year, all point to Scully having the goods to perform at this
level, though he is not getting carried away.
A member of Carlow Road Cycling Club, his apprenticeship in the sport began in earnest last year when he packed his bags and left the comforts of home for a stint with Veloce Club Pontivyen in Brittany.
“It was like a really big learning curve
those first few weeks, getting used to the big bunches and the standard,” he
told stickybottle.
One of the final races he rode there – La Ronde des Vallées (2.1) –
featured three stages including an 11.5km TT. It saw him take 4th place of the
140-rider international field.
Scully, then a first-year junior, was rewarded for his form and stint abroad with selection for the junior Europeans and the Worlds; riding the road race and TT in both.
He returned to Carlow, working with his coach Paul Woods, and knuckled down over the winter. Before the off-season was over he was contacted by the well-respected Isorex Cycling Team in Belgium, which offered him a place for this year.
“I’ll go over on the Easter holidays because
I have time to race,” he said. “Then I’ll get the Leaving Cert done and then have
the nationals and hopefully I can get out to Belgium for the summer to race.”
Before then, however, there is plenty of competition to be had on home roads and the possibility of more appearances on the Irish junior team if he can continue to impress.
Sunday’s Gent Wevelgem was his debut ride in the UCI Nations Cup series for juniors. And though it was a big day of racing – with plenty of climbs and cobbles – he seemed to cope well.
He was in the remains of the peloton – with team mates Adam Gilsenan and Liam O’Brien – nearing the finish when a four-man breakaway got clear with about 6km to go.
“Some of the main nations were missing
from (the breakaway) and I was thinking to myself ‘this will be brought back’,”
he said. “But they went from 10 seconds to something like 35 seconds all of a
sudden. We just stalled and that was it, they were gone.”
While he and O’Brien were trying to
position Gilsenan for the final sprint, the Meath man crashed with about 1.5km
to go. Then in the final few hundred metres another rider fell and sent the
bunch scattering. It was a frustrating end for Scully, who finished 31st, some
48 seconds behind the winning breakaway man; Thomas Capra of Italy.
Earlier in the race, on the cobbled
climb of the Kemmelberg, Scully had to unclip to manoeuvre around riders ahead
of him. That forced him to into a chase up the climb to regain the group, which
he did right at the top.
He suffered another similar incident on
the second passage of the climb and after that his chain came off. That forced
him into a long chase of 10-15km, though he eventually regained the group.
“It was fairly mental, you were fighting
for position all the time,” he said, though overall he was satisfied with how
he coped.
“I was unsure what the standard would be.
It was kind of an unknown for me, but I was confident enough with the legs I
had going into it. It went well, I felt good in the race. At no point was I
squeezed and felt like ‘oh I’m going to be dropped here’. So that was a
positive to be honest, a real positive.”
