Cycling Reports

POWER PREPARES: 

(Jan 4) While most of us were sitting in front of a cosy fire digesting the remnants of the Christmas turkey, or sitting on a high stool down the local trying to prolong the festive cheer, one man was out on his bike, in the freezing cold, in preparation for the 2001 professional cycling season.

Waterford’s Ciaran Power spent six and a half hours of St. Stephen’s Day cycling around the roads of counties Waterford and Tipperary. The Linda McCartney team professional with the headline writers dream surname covered 130 miles in the freezing cold of an Irish winter.

Power broke from the traditional route to professionalism in cycling last year, when instead of joining a continental club and spending a season or two abroad hoping to catch the eye of a professional team manager, Power based himself at home in Ireland, riding Irish races and concentrated on his international performances with the Irish national squad in the hope of securing a professional contract. “I was lucky,” he says “I wanted to do well in two races that I knew the McCartney team would be doing, the Prutour in England and the Suntour in Australia. I trained specifically for those races and even though I was winning at home too, I didn’t care if I won or was last in those races.”

After good rides in both of his target races, against professional opposition, Power was approached and signed by the British based Linda McCartney squad - an all vegetarian team who aim to promote the food and ideals of the late Linda McCartney, wife of former Beatle and music legend, Paul McCartney.

One of the stipulations of the team is that all riders must become vegetarians. “I became vegetarian when I signed,” says Power “it was good, because I was on the road straight away with the team, so there they were all vegetarians. I wasn’t sitting around a table and being the only one not eating meat, or there were no people saying ‘go on have a little bit of meat’ so it was great.”

Although the step from amateur to professional cyclist is a big one, Power fared exceptionally well in his first season, despite his fears. “My first pro race was the Tour of Malaysia, I had ridden that twice before with the Irish team, so that helped me a fair bit. The first race that I was, not afraid, but a little intimidated was Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy. Everybody was there! Mapei had their full squad! They were getting ready for Milan-SanRemo. That was the first race, but after that they’re all the same.”

Intimidated or not, the young Commeragh cyclist wasn’t letting it get to him and before the end of the week had a fine 11^th place on a stage to his credit. “On two of the hillier stages I stayed in the front group of about 60 riders from a peleton of about 180, so that impressed me more than my 11^th place on the stage. It showed that I could climb a little bit as well as sprint. The difference between pro’s and amateurs is amazing though,” he continues.  “The biggest difference is the speed they can ride uphill. In Tirreno, there was a climb of about 10 kilometres one day and the whole bunch was in one long line, in a 53/17, everyone was at their absolute limit and only three guys got dopped! The standard is so high and everyone can suffer for so long, it’s amazing!”

Power found the continental cycling fans incredible too. “In Italy, the fans were really extreme, they all go mad for cycling. I did Ghent-Wevelgem (a Belgian one day classic) and the fans were amazing, there were old men and young kids looking for autographs and following the team cars. It’s a different mentality over there, it’s cycling, cycling, cycling, it’s like gaelic games over here.”

In mid-May the McCartneys lined up to ride the three week long Giro d’Italia, second only to the Tour De France in the world of stage racing and Power was selected to ride. “Going into the Giro, the McCartney’s were underdogs.” he says, “We got one of the last places in the race, instead of one of the Italian teams, so the pressure was on us to do something. We did o.k. We had ten top ten placings on stages, Dave McKenzie won a stage and Max Sciandri was second on another, so we showed that we deserved our place and the organisers were delighted. The crowds were fantastic! Every day was like a classic! It was really, really hard – the last four days I was on my hands and knees, but my family came over to the finish and that helped me through.”

Power himself finished 5^th and 6^th on respective stages, pitting his bunch sprinting wits against the likes of super sprinter Mario Cippollini (Saeco) who won four stages in the 1999 Tour De France. “The stage I was 5^th on,” recalls the fromer FBD Milk Ras winner “there was only me and Max left from the McCartney team in the bunch. I moved up to ask Max if he wanted to sprint and found myself on Cippollini’s wheel for the last kilometre! It got a little bit like – Jesus, I’m not supposed to be here! First year. Big race. These things don’t happen!” When it was pointed out that he didn’t let Cipollini’s wheel go too easily, he laughed. “I didn’t let it go too easy, but I think if it happened again, I wouldn’t let it go at all. It was just the fact that I was really, really nervous. I was thinking if he starts sprinting now and I let the wheel go, everyone behind me will kill me! Or what if someone knocks me off? It’s just a million things going through your head in the last kilometre. If it happens again, hopefully I’ll be more confident, maybe I wouldn’t have won the sprint, but I’d definitely be nearer.”

At the moment, Power is based in Toulouse, France, with some of the rest of the squad. Where some riders’ downfall has been trying to adapt to living in a foreign country for a year on end, Power seems to thrive on it. “It’s fantastic, really, really good.” he enthuses. “I love it. I think it’s one of the main reasons why I’m really happy with this year. My fiancée, Lisa, gave up her job and came over. So she’s there every time I come home. It’s great. The apartment is brand new. We have a pool. The weather is fantastic and there’s four Irish pubs in Toulouse, so that’s another good thing!” he laughs. “For me, the biggest worry was for Lisa who gave up her job and came over with me. She would be lying around in a strange country while I was training or racing, but she gets on really well with the boss, Julian Clarke’s wife and they do their own thing. They go shopping, walking, cycling, they’re inseparable and she loves it.  And if you have to lie around, Toulouse is a nice place to lie around. It’s not really like living in France because all the people we deal with speak English, so I’m not really learning much French!” he laughs.

Next season sees a new co-sponsor, the Australian wine producer Jacob’s Creek, join forces with the McCartney squad. With this new sponsor comes an increased budget and some new signings, not least that of former junior world road race champion, Sligoman Mark Scanlon. “Yeah, it’ll be great to have another Irish fellah on the team.” says Power. “I know Mark pretty well from riding on Irish teams with him at the world’s and stuff. He seems to be a good laugh and he’s unbelievably strong! He’s the biggest prospect to come out of this country since the days of Kelly and Roche, so it’s going to be interesting to see what he can do. If you look at the names of former junior world champions, they’ve all gone on to bigger things and I’m sure Mark will do the same.”

Last season. Ciaran Power was a raw rookie in the paid ranks. 2001 will be a different story. “Last season, they signed me as an up-and–coming strong rider, kind of an all rounder. I was told that I was going in most of the races and that I wasn’t going to get a chance to peak for any specific goal, just to try my best and not to worry about it. I started to do alright in a couple of sprints and some of the hard one day races with rolling roads - not too hilly but rolling. Hopefully this year now, I’ll get a chance to try and peak for some races and hopefully I’ll get better results. Hopefully this year I will get a little bit stronger, I’m going to try and work on my sprint and try and improve that.”

Power left Ireland on Tuesday for the sunny climes of Australia and the first race of the 2001 season, the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under, where a certain Italian sprinter will be waiting. A faster, more experienced Ciaran Power versus an irrepressible Mario Cipollini, I bet they’re dreaming up the headlines already!