Why Curran left the pros

DISILLUSIONMENT sums up Paul Curran's feelings as he leaves Britain's professional scene after two years and prepares to make a comeback as an amateur.

It is an understandable sentiment for someone who has effectively been denied the opportunity to do what he is best at doing - riding a bike hard over hilly courses with the best in the world.

Curran does not feel bitter - as he says, at least there was a way out, for him. His verdict on the British domestic professional scene is 'the potential is there. The city centre races get enormous crowds, but the whole thing never comes off, and I don't know why.'

'A few people have said to me that criterium racing can get boring when it's on television week after week.

'Maybe we need something else for the spectators. The way the Milk Race and Tour of Britain work is good, with big laps through towns. They have a captive audience.'

'The number of riders is working against it. Having 20 or 25 men is not a good advertisement. The organisers feel they must put us on small courses, which are too small for decent racing, because it would look stupid on larger circuits.'

Curran says he is 'definitely disillusioned. My first team was prepared to do things properly, to go abroad a bit to prepare for bigger races here, but they fizzled out. Then Crown fizzled out as well.'

'The road races were OK, but the tactics were different even then. It would be hard for the first hour, the break would go and you would wander around for 15th place. Star Trophies are harder because you race for 100 miles from the start to the finish.'

'It's down to numbers. It's difficult to have a decent road race with 25 riders. A lot of organisers were letting amateurs in. That was good, it livened things up, and that's why a few pros didn't like it.'

He summed up: 'It can never be as big as on the continent, it's a secondary sport. There has to be money for teams, that's the first priority, because there are always races around. The problem is that one hour on Channel Four at midnight is not what sponsors are looking for.'