Barry peaking for Milk Rás bid
This time he had set the race as one of his targets in the lead-up to the Rás, which gets under way in Dublin on Sunday week.
The other event was Ras Mumhan in which he eventually finished second despite going to the line with a painful boil on his foot.
The boil resulted in a complementary leg injury which left him on physio in the week leading up to the Shay Elliott Memorial.
The injury took its toll in the closing stages of the race when he was in the winning breakaway group along with eventual winner, Allesandro Guerra of Italy, Eugene Moriarty, Brian Kenneally, Corkman Ritchie Cahill, who finished third for the second successive year, and Paddy Moriarty.
Timmy Barry had to settle for sixth place, well clear of a strong bunch of riders, but he knew from then on that he was on target for the Tour Ulster.
“I always planned to hit form on the lead into the FBD Milk Rás,” he said. “Rás Mumhan and the Tour of Ulster were the landmarks I had set for myself. OK, I won the Silver Pail Grand Prix in Fermoy along the way but that was a huge bonus.
“Everybody thought I was in top shape at the start of the season but I think that may have been because I lost half a stone in weight and I was able to get over the hills faster as a result.”
His two big targets for the year were the FBD Milk Rás and then the world B championships in Switzerland at the beginning of July.
He is on a 12 man panel for that assignment with six to travel.
It would appear that David O’Loughlin and Tommy Evans will be certainties for that squad with four places up for grabs.
Barry made his debut in the Milk Rás four years ago and this year will be a key figure on the Dan Morrissey Tipperary team.
They will have Andy Roche from the Isle of Man, who won the title for Kerry back in 1997, Ritchie Cahill from Banteer, Brian Kenneally and the teak tough Portlaoise man, Joe Fenlon, in the team.
Barry will revel in this type of situation as he is a recognised stage rider at this point in his career and all his training has been geared towards Irish cycling’s showpiece.
Those days the top cyclists have to be full-time but his job as a rep for Heineken in Cork allows him time to put in the many hours of training his sport demands.
He admits there are a lot of sacrifices to be made along the way and one of those is the fact time off for racing is one of those and eats into his annual holidays.
He will take this weekend off in advance of the Rás but the action continues with the Noel Hammond Memorial at Ballyboghal on Sunday - the third Classic League Race in the series.
The Galway Criterium takes place on Saturday while the Tour of the Mournes goes ahead on Sunday.
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