Ireland’s Olivia Dillon (leading) is in the form of her life in the US (Photo: Wil Matthews)
Olivia Dillon is continuing her run of great from across the Atlantic this season, finishing seventh overall at the SRAM Tour of the Gila (2.2) in New Mexico last weekend.
The ‘NOW and Novartis for MS’ rider finished in the top ten on all but the last stage, a very consistent ride following on from her second place on GC in the Sea Otter Classic in California last month.
The former national road race and TT champion started the New Mexico race by taking 10th on the opening stage, which finished with a 10-mile climb up to the ghost town of Mogollon.
“This was my fifth year riding this race and it was my best ever finish on the stage,” she said.
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“It’s always a tough day because of the high altitude and the heat. Living at sea level and racing at 5-7,000ft without acclimatizing is a lung burner, for sure. The last part of the climb is super steep and once I crossed the finish line I was pretty sure I would collapse; it was hard to breathe and my chest felt like it was being pounded on.”
However, she recovered well for the second stage, taking ninth. She finished third in the sprint from a select group that came in 1:36 down on the head of the day’s fragmented breakaway at the end of over 3hrs 30mins in the saddle.
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Dillon also scored some mountain points after cresting the first of the day’s two climbs in third place.
On stage 3’s 26.6km TT, Dillon was tenth before taking 6th on stage 4; a criterium settled in a bunch gallop, moving her up once place to 8th on GC.
On the final stage the Irish rider finished 12th on the lumpy 115.5km leg after an aggressive ride during which massive gaps appeared.
She got clear with team mate Beth Newell and six others in the early part of the stage and gained one minute. However, with the GC battle entering the business end of the race, the bunch remained attentive and began to make inroads into that lead.
Just before the feed zone the gap was 20 seconds, with Dillon deciding to force the issue and attack. She brought three others with her and going onto the Sappillio climb towards the finish the escape had just over one minute on the peloton.
When the road went up there were bodies everywhere but Dillon dug deep, taking 12th on the day and moving up to seventh on the final GC. Her team mate Alison Powers was second on the stage and secured third overall.
“It was a brutally hard day; working in the break and digging deep to finish with the GC riders,” she said.
”I’m really pleased with my performance over the five days. The courses were very challenging, at altitude and in the heat and wind. You have to be good all rounder to finish well at Gila because there’s a lot of climbing with technical descents, a long power TT course and fast crit. We had amazing teamwork all week and got podiums on three of the fives stages and a podium on the final GC.”
“I go to Gatineau in Canada next week for the UCI 1.1 TT and road race. From there I go to Boise in Idaho for the Exergy Tour (1.2). The form is very good so I’m excited for both.”
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