Olivia Dillon hugs a Team Ireland colleague after taking a clear victory on a tough day in the trenches at An Post Rás na mBan (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
The only woman selected by Cycling Ireland to represent the country at the World Road Championships in Spain in two weeks, Olivia Dillon today demonstrated the reasons why her name will be writ large when the history of the modern era is drawn up.
Having won multiple stages and the overall in An Post Rás na mBan in recent years, come into this year’s event as defending champion and become an established figure on the US pro scene, the national team rider’s appetite to race hard and win shows no sign of diminishing.
It is a mark of the standing of the former national road race and time trial champion that those observing the action in recent days were surprised she was forced to wait so long to open her account, on stage 5 into Ballyvaghan today.
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The stage, named the Beast of Burren, took the riders over two cat 1 climbs and one cat 3 on the testing 105km that saw the field start in Ballyvaghan before racing to Fanore, Doolin, Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora, Corofin, Boston, Carron and on to Bellharbour before the finish back in Ballyvaghan.
In previous years, a stage like today’s would have split the field to pieces with only a small group of the best women left at the head of affairs.
However, as Rás na mBan has become more established and attracted better international riders competing for well drilled teams, the gap between the haves and have nots is no longer as wide and there are more women able and willing to mix it.
And so despite such a testing parcours today, with the race splitting on the climbs before regrouping, the strength in depth in the field saw a group of some 35 women hurtle in the road to race for the chequered flag back where they started in Ballyvaghan.
A good day's work; Dillon clearly delighted crossing the line for her first stage win of the week in Ballyvaghan (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
And Dillon simply had too much power and too much left in the tank for those around her.
She led out the gallop, pushing the Dutch duo of Ines Klok and Mirthe Wagenaar, both of the WV Breda-Manilieu.nl squad, into the second and third spots on the podium.
Tayler Wiles, second on stage 1 and the winner of stages 2 and 3, was in the lead group. She retains her pink leader’s jersey and it will take something special to dislodge her with just one stage remaining.
"I'm absolutely thrilled with this victory today," said Dillon afterwards.
“It was a really fast field sprint with a tailwind to the finish and I managed to get a good gap in the final turn and just held it to the line.
"Over the climbs the field split but then it would come back together each time. I'm really happy to get a win. It's a good competitive field here.
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“It stayed together until the time trial where Tayler put in a really great performance. The general classification is fairly tight and we have one more day."
Dillon in TT action yesterday morning. She was 6th in the test and with the race failing to break up on the road stages, she sits in the same position overall on the eve of the final stage (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
US rider Wiles is guesting for the DID Cycle 4 Life team this week and retains her 33 second advantage over Briton Molly Weaver (Epic Scott) heading into tomorrow's sixth and final stage in Ennis.
Weaver also holds the white jersey of leader of the Womenscycling.ie Young Rider classification.
Blarney's Fiona Meade was off the podium today for the first time in four massed start stages. But her fourth place finish was ahead of her rivals for the National Dairy Council points jersey and the Team Munster rider now has a seven point advantage ahead of tomorrow's finale.
Meade also has a dominant lead in the Clare County Council Best Irish Rider classification in which Aideen Keenan has replaced her Orwell Wheelers team-mate Ciara Kinch in the runner-up position.
Today’s stage winner Dillon is best of the Irish, but as she is not a county rider she is not eligible for that classification. She is placed 5th overall, some 47 seconds behind Wiles.
With just 80km remaining, the American looks good to win the race outright.
However, there are eight riders within a minute of the Specialized Lululemon international star who must remain vigilant if she is to secure a debut success in Ireland's top international stage race.
What she nornally looks like; Dillon leading the field in a US pro crit for her Stateside team Colavita.
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