Foreword Dany: I met Aaron for the first time around 5 years ago when he was still an underage rider and I noticed a year later his turn of speed in the Bohermeen races in 2017…Aaron became one of the top juniors in the Nico Roche Junior team, showed his lethal sprint on the track and his teamwork in international stage races such as the Korean Tour and locally the Junior tour…he became an Espoir but his progress stopped like many others when the pandemic stroke…He was able to become a full-time rider this year and living & training in Mallorca for the time being. He takes on the local races in Spain’s Balearic Islands and got back to his winning ways by taking the top spot twice already. Looking forward to seeing him races back in Ireland at some time and wish him the success he deserves, as he has the perseverance and talent to get a step higher on the ladder in our beloved cycling world…good luck mate …Buena Suerte Aaron
Aaron told us after his second win in Menorca >>> “Trofeu garden Hotel 2021 was my first race of the year and my first race in over six months. I had been training a lot over the winter here in Mallorca with Dylan Traynor and Marcus Christie. It was quite hard to gauge where I stood with my fitness and strength as Marcus is so much stronger than any other rider I know and I would never be able to do better than him in training. Also, Dylan is a different style of a rider being a climber, I wasn’t able to compare myself to him. On the climbs, both would be able to drop me. The course was quite a flat, 2 lap course so I felt it suited me quite well. On the road, I see myself more of a sprinter than anything else. We started off at a fast pace with everyone trying to get into the right place. Halfway around the first lap, I missed a breakaway that formed with many teams in it. I felt that the break would stay away so I tried to bridge across solo and thankfully I got across. We pulled out over a minute gap, not too much later in the race. We were all working well together. Coming into the last half lap of the race there were a few attacks out of the front group but nothing stuck. The breakaway went through the flame rouge with 10 riders, the speed slowly increasing with everyone wanting to be near the front for the last corner. A rider, nick Cooper went quite early with 350m still to go. I jumped onto his wheel and went on the outside of him with about 250m to go. I managed to hold it to the finish to score 90 points in the Xallenge Illes Balears league”
” Two weeks later the next race of the league was held on the island of Menorca. This course was lumpy with a few sharp drags in it. The first lap was quite hectic with a lot of attacks going off the front. As I was third on the Xallenge Illes Balears GC I was being marked quite hard. Near the end of the first lap, a large group managed to form at the head of the race. I bridged across solo as I was worried if I brought anyone with me, I would be left to work alone. We were working well together but it wasn’t enough to stay away. On the second lap, a small breakaway formed and as there were no GC contenders in it they were let away. The peloton didn’t seem like it was interested to chase, I thought the break was going to stay away from like in the race 2 weeks ago so I went on the attack again and managed to successfully bridge across to the front of the race. I felt like the group wasn’t working the best together so I tried to go solo but a rider from Mancor de Vall stayed with me. We both were fully committed to staying away but the main peloton worked together to bring us back. On the last lap, a small group of 3 riders broke away, and again the peloton was not interested in chasing. So I put all my cards into one basket and attacked with 10km to go. It took about 2 minutes for the group to stop chasing me and an extra 3 to 4 minutes to catch the front of the race. We worked well together with all the way to the last corner up to the finish. I managed to come around the 2 riders in front of me to come away with another win. This left me tied second on GC, only 10 points off of first as I missed the first race on the other island of Formentera” yours in sport, Aaron Wade
