Multiple Irish champion admits it’s increasingly difficult to be away from family
Having raced many seasons on the Asian circuit, David McCann has confirmed that 2012 will be his last season racing in the pro peloton and that, at 38 years of age, he is prepared to call it a day.
The Belfast rider has been one of Ireland’s most successful international riders over the past 26 years, with a standout early result being when he beat Robbie McEwen and Alexandre Vinokourov in the 1996 Manx International.
Since then he’s taken three Irish road race championships and a record six time trial titles, as well as overall victories in races such as the Tours of Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia, the Jelajah Malaysia, the Melaka Governor Cup and the FBD Insurance Rás.
He’s also won a stage in the 2.HC Tour of Qinghai Lake, and in 2010 was third in the Commonwealth Games team pursuit and fifth in the road race.
“This is it. This is my final year,” the RTS Racing rider confirmed to VeloNation at the recent Tour de Langkawi. “I am not sure [what I will do]. It is going to be new and different. I will try to finish off this year well, then move into something different. I could do anything – that is the exciting part.”
McCann continues to ride big events, doing the Tours of Qatar and Oman plus the Tour de Langkawi this year. He’s been a little quieter than usual, though, although he was part of a long distance break on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Langakwi, and might have stayed clear had the Drapac Professional team not decided – unexpectedly – to ride all day on the front.
McCann confirmed that it’s been harder to get into form at the start of this season, most likely due to not doing track training over the winter nor going to training camps. However there’s also another reason why he’s perhaps not as focused as before.
“I just miss being home, I have a new baby there. I think my head is more there than it is at the race…the body is fine, it’s just the head.”
He plans to spend several weeks at home in Belfast, then get back into international racing in either the Tour of the Philippines or the Tour of Korea. His goal is to clock up some good results in this farewell season, going out at a high level.
What now seems unlikely is a place on the Irish team for the London Olympics. Cycling Ireland has drawn up a qualification criteria and he concedes that his quiet start to the season has made things difficult in relation to that.
Also, being up against ProTour riders such as Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche and Matt Brammeier plus UnitedHealtcare’s Philip Deignan is not an easy task.
“I think the points from this last block of racing would have been important.,” he said. “I didn’t manage to get any good results. It is going to be tough, although it is not out of question, there are still more races before the selection cutoff.”
Still, given his determination to savour some more strong rides before calling it a day, it’s quite possible that McCann will clock up some decent international results before hanging up his wheels.
Click on the image below to watch the video interview.