Griffin gearing up for last tilt at Rás glory

PAUL GRIFFIN has come mightily close to landing the overall title at Rás Mumhan on several occasions but the teak-tough Tralee native reckons this year might well be his last chance at the yellow jersey.

Twice a runner-up, twice a third place finisher as well as notching a couple of fourth’s and fifth’s in the past, Griffin believes his time is running out.

“Definitely,” he admitted. “I’m not sure how long more I can keep going at this level. It’s hard to say now, I won’t know until the winter but I reckon this could be my last year racing seriously.”

In 2009, the former Giant Asia professional lost out on the title by a mere two seconds to his close friend and fellow ex-pro, Brian Kenneally. It still rankles with him as one that got away.

“You see in this type of race, anything is possible. You could have the yellow jersey by a couple of minutes going into the final day, people think I had that race sewn up (in 2009) and also in 2005 when John Dempsey beat me on the final day, but it’s never the way here. A break slips away and you end up losing by three or four minutes. It’s a very hard race to win but I don’t think I’m too far off it.”

Though his form coming into the event isn’t where it might be — he’s yet to win a race this year — Griffin still fancies his chances.

“I know I’ll have the endurance for it, there’s no question there but I just don’t know if I’ll have that top-end speed and power you really need for this race.

“I’ve trained away all the winter but the form is just a little bit slow coming around this year, maybe it’s to do with work and tiredness or whatever, I’m not too sure but we won’t know until we go out the road today how the legs will react.”

As he heads towards the twilight years of a glittering career that peaked in 1998 when he claimed a stage win in what was then the FBD Rás, Griffin still believes the onus will be on him to do something on home roads.

“If a break does get away and I’m not in it, eyes will be on me and a few others to try and bring it back. One thing you can be guaranteed of in Rás Mumhan is, always on the first day, a break of anything between six and 12 riders will slip away early and it’s really a case of trying to be in that group. Myself and Brian Kenneally were in it the first day back in 2009, he beat me to the line and ended up winning the overall so you really have to be on your guard from the start.”

Though not ruling himself out as “a contender”, the former Irish international believes last year’s winner Timmy Barry comes into the race with “an incredible pedigree” and is one to watch.

“Timmy was one of, if not the best in the country at the start of the decade and when he came out of retirement a few years back he just took off where he left off and definitely he’s one to keep an eye on.”

A “dark horse” for the overall title, according to Griffin is Corkman Páidi O’Brien, who rode professionally with the An Post/Sean Kelly team in Belgium for years and has notched up a string of fine results already this year. O’Brien is a former national champion at U23 level and is riding this year with the SportActive team. His diminutive stature is well suited to the sharp climbs that Rás Mumhan will provide.

Other contenders include Dubliner Ryan Sherlock (Carrick Wheelers) who won the King of the Mountains jersey last year and is the current national hill climb champion. Sherlock, now riding for the Giant Asia professional team finished second on the Queen stage on Molls Gap last year as well as sixth overall and he’ll be one to watch.

Woulter Haan of the Dutch Ruiter team is another who’ll definitely be in the mix having recorded two top-10 stage finishes and seventh overall last year while Irish hopes of stage wins or possibly the overall will weigh on the shoulders of Neil Delahaye (Team Dectek).

He delivered the performance of last year’s event when he attacked on his own early on stage three and stayed away all day, taking the stage 47 seconds ahead of next placed Robbert Jan-Mol and jumping up to third place on the general classification, where he eventually finished up. Four previous winners of the event will take to the start-line today in the form of John Dempsey (Carrick Wheelers), Eugene Moriarty (Team Dectek B), Stephen O’Sullivan (Team Dectek) and Timmy Barry (The Edge).

Today’s 105-kilometre stage has three categorised climbs and takes the riders from Killorglin, back towards Killarney, on to Kilcummin, Gneeveguilla, Scartaglin, Castleisland, Firies, Milltown and back to the finish in Killorglin.