Big Gun: Olivia Dillon's time trial challenge ended before it began in June, but a stage win and 6th overall at Rás na mBan suggest the US-based rider is in rude health.
By Brian Canty
While expected to line up for the National Women's Road Championships in Westmeath tomorrow, the news emerging just ahead of the race is that defending champion Mel Spath will not be present.
Her absence is unfortunate, especially since she was due to ride on the initial race date in June and given she has won the crown for the past two years. But the strength in depth in the field means a fantastic race is still on the cards.
There are 47 riders down to start the big showdown, which takes in six laps of the 19 kilometre course for a testing 114 kilometre race based around Multyfarnham.
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On the basis of the form shown by some of the Irish women in An Post Rás na mBan last week, Fiona Meade of Blarney CC goes to the line as one of the favourites.
A stage winner and the victor in the points classification last week, Meade is best known for her sprint.
The other strong women in the field will be looking to split the race and either leave Meade behind or take the gallop out of her legs long before the finish.
But if they fail and she gets a whiff of the finish, the title may well be making its way back to Cork tomorrow evening.
Fiona Meade taking stage 4 of Rás na mBan; her fantastic riding all week perhaps makes her joint favourite for tomorrow with Olivia Dillon (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Olivia Dillon is looking for her second title to go alongside the gold medal she won in Sligo in 2010.
The harder the race the better it is for Dillon. And though she would have loved a few steeper drags, she will still be well able to reduce the peloton in size when she puts the power down.
But like the other big names in the field, she will be closely marked.
Her trip home for the time trial and road championships in June from the US, where she is based with the Colavita team, was not pleasant.
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She was forced out of the TT before it had begun because her bike did not get through the pre-race checks enforcing UCI TT position rules.
And following that debacle, the women's road race down for decision two days later was postponed to this weekend when a fatal car crash just off the course forced the closure of roads, making the race route unavailable.
Dillon was the leader of the Irish team at An Post Rás na mBan last week, where she won a stage and was 6th overall.
The constant up and down nature of tomorrow's course will suit her, but she will definitely want the race to either split up or at least be as hard as it can possibly be.
A crash at Rás na mBan perhaps disguised some really quality riding by Eve McCrystal. She has the attributes to be champion if she races smart and gets a bit of luck (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Michelle Geoghegan (WV Zeewus Vlannderen) is one of only a couple of Irish women based abroad and is a quality rider. However, she was perhaps quieter than expected at Rás na mBan so it is unclear what she can do tomorrow.
Other dark horses include Mary Costelloe (WyndyMilla-Reynolds) who was third last year, while the aforementioned Fran Meehan will be going hell for leather on home roads.
Eve McCrystal of Garda CC, Creamer and Louise Moriarty (Look Mum No Hands) are others worth noting.
Moriarty was more dominant some years ago and while a rider of her calibre is always well able to mix it, she appears to be giving cycling less of her attention in recent times.
However, Creamer is starting to emerge as a real force and the UK-based rider has tasted victory riding against pros in Britain this season.
She has also already taken her nationals TT silver and has what it takes to win tomorrow if she gets a bit of luck.
The same can genuinely be said for McCrystal.
She rode a very good Rás na mBan where she and Dillon were the only two Irish riders in the top 10 in the stage 3 TT and where she took 4th in the bunch sprint that settled stage 4.
She also climbed well and generally her involvement with the paracycling squad, where she piloted Katie George Dunlevy to a tandem road race gold at the World Championships in the US last month, has transformed her as a rider. She might just pull off the big one tomorrow.
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