Caoimhe O’Brien scooped another Irish win on day two of Rás na mBan on Thursday, outsprinting team-mate and compatriot Mia Griffin to the line in Mountrath.
The Das Hutchinson Brother UK team riders were head to head on the finishing straight, with O’Brien getting the edge over Wednesday’s stage one winner Griffin.
O’Brien picked up a time bonus during the stage and ended the day level on time with Griffin. However, the latter holds the overall lead on countback.
“It is so special,” O’Brien said. “I remember being here four years ago and getting dropped on every single stage. The gap to where I wanted to be was so big and so to be here is very special.”
Last month O’Brien won the Emptinne and Brasschat kermesse races in Belgium and said that having confidence in herself has made the difference. As for Griffin, she was part of Ireland’s national record-breaking team pursuit squad at the Olympic Games and has her own turn of speed.
“For a few seconds before the line I thought I was there,” she said of what would have been a second consecutive win. “And then I saw a shadow at the side. She had come with so much speed, it was brilliant.”
The 104km stage from Kilkenny took in the 7.4km ascent of The Cut in the Slieve Bloom mountains. O’Brien and Griffin’s team set a hard pace to set things up for a prime win by team-mate Lucy Lee, who led the mountains competition after her prime win on Wednesday.
This pace reduced the group to 23 riders. Defending champion Manon de Boer (NWVG-Uplus) took top bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint ahead of O’Brien and her sister Aoife. This plus her time bonus for winning the stage saw Caoimhe O’Brien move level with Griffin heading into Friday’s toughest stage.
This covers 104km from Kilkenny to Gorey and includes two categorised climbs.
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