Defending champion Daire Feeley chasing second Rás Tailteann victory

The 2022 Rás Tailteann champion Daire Feeley lines out on stage one of this year’s event on Wednesday in fighting form, saying that he is in strong condition and chasing another overall win.

“Going into the race being defending champion is a brilliant feeling and something that can’t be taken away from you,” he told The Irish Times on Tuesday. “Completing the Rás is one thing, winning the Rás was another. The form is good. I think the only form that would be holding me back would be the mental aspect of it. There’s always going to be doubts and things like that, especially being defending champion. There’s a lot of pressure on you. That form is an uncertainty, you don’t know what challenges you’re going to be faced with. And you don’t know how you’re going to respond to them.

“But look, we’re going into the race at a positive attitude. We’re confident in the work that we’ve done. The body is good, we’re healthy. And that’s half the battle, to be honest.”

Last year the Roscommon rider became the first Irish winner since 2008, leading a very strong home charge in the race’s return after a three-year absence. He seized the yellow jersey on stage three and held it until the end, while Irish riders won four out of the five stages, as well as the points classification and king of the mountains. The Irish national squad was also best team.

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That scale of Irish success will be difficult to match this time around but, for his part Feeley is fully determined to equal what he achieved last June.

“Anything less than winning the race would be disappointing, especially after last year’s high,” the All Human/Velo Revolution competitor said. “Finishing in second place or third place or even 10th place will be a bit of a low when you know what the highs can be.”

The 68th edition of the race will cover 768km and scale 14 categorised climbs. Those climbs are up from eight in 2022, while the distance is 11km longer.

The clockwise route begins on Wednesday with a ceremonial start in Navan town square, Co Meath, at 11.45am. Stage one takes the riders 154.8km to Birr, Co Offaly, covering mostly flat roads early on, albeit with two category three climbs. The finale is much more demanding, with the summit of Wolftrap mountain located just 20km from the finish and making it possible the race could blow apart on the opening day.

Feeley has done his homework. “The first stage is a real challenge, going over the Slieve Bloom mountains. The Wolftrap climb is down as a category one climb in the race manual. I’ve ridden it quite a few times. I do know that severity of it, and do think it will shake up the race. Overall it’s a challenging route. It’s going to make for some hard, hard racing.”

Other stage finishes are in Ennis, Co Clare; Castlebar, Co Mayo; Monaghan, with the coastal village of Blackrock, Co. Louth, serving once again as the grand finale on Sunday afternoon.

Rás Tailteann 2023:

Stage 1, Wednesday, May 17th: Navan to Birr (154.8km)

Stage 2, Thursday, May 18th: Birr to Ennis (154.5km)

Stage 3, Friday, May 19th: Ennis to Castlebar (149.3km)

Stage 4, Saturday, May 20th: Charlestown to Monaghan (175.9km)

Stage 5, Sunday, May 21st: Monaghan to Blackrock (133.4km)

Total: 767.9km