Disappointment for Kildare's McDunphy after rough run in Rás Tailteann

There was no disguising the disappointment felt by Conn McDunphy in the wake of the 2025 Rás Tailteann, the Kilcock cyclist having suffering two heavy crashes over the course of the five-day stage race that put paid to his chances of victory.

The 28-year-old competitor was heading into the 2025 competition in confident mood, having won Stage Two on his way to a second-place finish overall behind Britain’s Dom Jackson in last year’s event.

And, with some impressive performances and triumphs already chalked up this season, McDunphy was poised to spearhead Team Skyline’s push for general classification success.

But any such prospect began to quickly unravel for the Kildare man, as he suffered a terrible crash near the close of Stage One.

And, while he did his utmost to remain in the hunt, a second tumble on Stage Three effectively ended any hope he harboured of a serious push for the title, which was, instead, won by George Kimber of Cycling Club Isle of Man.

It took every last ounce of McDunphy’s resolve to even complete the five days of racing, and the fact that he even managed to emerge 21st in the general classification, was testament to his tenacity and determination to deliver the best result he possibly could.

Indeed, while it was, no doubt, a rough run for the Lucan CRC honorary member, his efforts helped see Team Skyline comrade, Adam Lewis to sixth overall and the King of the Mountains jersey.

“I'm not really one to step off,” remarked McDunphy after he competed this year’s Rás. 

“If I'm still standing, I'll keep going, although sometimes I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.” 

McDunphy had every reason to feel quietly confident heading into the start of this year’s race, having captured the 2025 Rás Mhaigh Eo title in March, finished runner-up to defending champion, Keegan Swenson in April’s Growler Road Race, and finished 19th in the GP New York, helping fellow Team Skyline cyclist, Sean Christian to victory just days out from the start of the Rás.

But any hope he harboured of going one step better on his second-place finish in last season’s Rás began to evaporate early on.

“On Stage One I got in the breakaway and they got caught, and then just with a kilometer to go, I was gearing up for the sprint and got knocked off the bike,” recalled McDunphy.

“I got cuts all up my arm, my knee, my back, my hip and I basically took all the skin off my back.

“It made the week very hard, but I was still actually doing quite well the next day. Stage Two was good. I got patched up and I bounced back relatively well.

“We knew the roads having done them in the Rás Mhaigh Eo and so we went on the attack, but then we finished into a 30-kilometer block headwind which neutralized the race and brought riders back to us” he explained.

While McDunphy did attempt to dig in and recoup some of the lost ground, his bid to work his way back up the leaderboard suffered another serious hit when he fell again on the homestretch to Stage Three.

“I probably shouldn't have been sprinting, but I was, perhaps, overreaching, trying to compete to the finish and I didn't break on time.

“I woke up on Saturday morning, and my face was all swollen and I knew it was all going to go pear-shaped.

“After that I was just kind of getting around. I lost a bit of time on the Saturday stage, but with the GC over, I was just hobbling around,” he sighed.

For McDunphy, seeing his title hopes scuppered this year was made all the more frustrating given all that he had achieved last season as well as his form coming into this year’s race.

“The Rás is a very hard race, but, honestly, going into it, I would have hoped to win it and, while it’s easy to talk in hindsight, I think I probably had the legs to win it before I crashed,” he insisted.

“Even the day after I crashed, I was able to split the race myself pretty much, but then once you fall, the body starts fighting and then you get the inflammation, all that kind of thing, and you just can’t control that,” he said.

It is not the first time that McDunphy has been sent to the tarmac, the Kildare man having also been caught up in a major Stage-Three crash when he had been running fifth in the Rás back in 2023.

While, he is currently nursing the wounds from these two latest tumbles, he is still hoping to be back in action at the Tour de Beauce in Canada this month, looking to draw on the same grit and determination that saw him complete this year’s Rás.