High-speed crash puts end to Roche Rás hopes
The Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn rider was set to round off his Rás preparations in style as he grabbed the lead from Rob Sharman in a two-man sprint to the line but his wheel got stuck in a rut on the cobblestone finishing straight and he broke his collarbone in a crashing fall.
“It was nothing short of an absolute disaster,” Murphy & Gunn Team Manager, Declan Byrne, said. “So much of our plans had been hanging on Andy. With him in the line-up I would have expected us to win the team time trial because he is a super time triallist.”
Roche had been showing excellent form all season and when Paul Healion won Rás Mumhan at Easter he was the one who took control of matters once he had his team mate in the yellow jersey.
“Paul is in superb form right now and I would have rated Andy on a par with him,” Byrne said. “His role initially would have been to get Paul up on general classification but I always felt that he, too, could have been a contender.”
With Connor Murphy, mountains winner in Rás Mumhan and race leader for two days in the Tour of Ulster, committed to the Irish team for the Rás, Simon Kelly gets his chance in next week’s showpiece.
The Galwayman finished second on the stage into Abbeyleix last year and is a tough team rider.
“In fact he was always on the short list for next week,” Declan Byrne said yesterday. “He has shown that he has built on his Rás Mumhan form and I know that he has trained hard and was up for this race all the time. He is one of those riders who always gives 110%.”
The Murphy & Gunn team had been hoping to win the team time trial and have been over the course several times in recent weeks and had also ridden five of the stages in preparation for a big onslaught on the race.
“I would like to think that we still have a chance of a podium place — our original target,” Byrne insisted. “I know Andy’s mishap was unfortunate but we have a strong team. Simon (Kelly) had three top 10 finishes last year and we will have four riders riding for Paul (Healion). Morgan Fox is a seasoned campaigner, a former professional in Europe and national champion so he will be the one to organise everything on the road.
“And then we have the likes of John O’Shea and John Dempsey, who are superb team riders. They don’t have to be told what to do. They just do it.”
This year’s FBD Insurance RÁS starts on Sunday with a 121km stage from Tallaght to Enniscorthy, and will finish a week later in the seaside town of Skerries after stage-end finishes in Cobh, An Daingean, Listowel, An Cheathrú Rua, Westport and Clara.
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