Feeley relishing Rás coming to his native county

Roscommon’s Daire Feeley is in an interesting place heading into this year’s Rás Tailteann, which kicks off on May 21st.

The Burren CC cyclist has claimed three stage wins in 2025, overcome an illness that affected his before Rás Mumhan.

Off the track, he is adjusting to a life of altered sleep patterns following the arrival of his four-month-old son Liam. Throw in a 9 to 5 job that he started late last year.

Now, with the Rás Tailteann coming his home county, it has certainly been an eventful few months.

On the latter point, with the first stage of the Rás finishing in Boyle on Wednesday week, Feeley has added motivation to become a two-time winner of Ireland’s most prestigious cycling event.

“It is definitely a big motivation. The Rás came through Strokestown in 2023 but, unfortunately, I had crashed out of the race at that point so I didn’t get to savour it. The fact that we have a stage finishing in Boyle, it will make things easier.

“The race won’t be won on that day, but I have a feeling that it will end in a big bunch sprint. It’s not my cup of tea but there will hopefully be a group of 20 people there and that will be your competition going forward,” the Moate Park man stated.

Rás Tailteann continues to attract the best Irish cyclists and talent from all corners of the globe. In that context, Feeley believes that the event still possesses a unique magic.

“It is known for being one of the fastest stage races in Europe. Over the average of the Rás, you could nearly say it’s faster than the Tour de France. Now I know the Tour de France is much longer but it (the Rás) is generally an international race that talent will go through right up to the professional ranks.

“Some of the biggest talents have gone through the Rás, including the likes of Mark Cavendish. Household names have competed in the Rás at some point. That gives an idea of the calibre of rider it attracts. It is known all over Europe. You could nearly say it’s known all over the world,” Feeley noted.

The County Roscommon cyclist is only a matter of months into his new job as the Roscommon Sports Partnership’s ESF+ Social Innovation in Sport Officer.

In his role, Feeley works with ethnic minorities, youths at risk, persons with a disability and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. His aim is to discover what are the barriers that prevent people from being active and the solutions to those.

The former Rás Tailteann winner admits that his new job provides challenges but feels that his role allows him a sense of perspective, which helps when dealing with bad days on the bike.

“My job would be to get disadvantaged ethnic minority groups integrated into the community through sport. It is a nice job. You work with smaller groups. The focus isn’t really the quantitative thing, and it is more what effect you have on people’s lives on the ground. It is lovely and it is a really nice place to work.

“When you have a bad race and you go back to work on a Monday morning and you are talking to parents who can’t afford a pair of runners for their kids for sport in general, you realise that we don’t have it too bad when the complaints are about riding a bike or a race not going too well.

“It is nice because you can be thinking about cycling all the time and training all the time. But to have a form of escapism from it is refreshing and it helps you recover also,” Feeley stated.

Although his job provides him with a sense of perspective, Feeley still possesses the desire to taste Rás Tialteann glory once more. He feels that his victory in 2022 only gave him an added thirst for success, one he is determined to quench this year.

“I am going into the Rás to win it. That can be a bad thing as well because you can be so focused on the win, you forget about any other minor opportunities that come alongside when you have tunnel vision towards general classification.

“But I only go to a race to win it. I don’t like finishing second or third. It is still a nice thing and if I finish in the minor places or even finish in the top 10, it is still a massive achievement.

“When you have won the race before, in order to satisfy that hunger you have to go and win it again. You are always chasing the next best thing,” he concluded.