Mia Griffin, the new Irish elite road race champion, has been confirmed by her Roland team for the Tour de France. The Kilkenny rider has just completed her debut Giro and, though a crash hampered her progress there, she is now in the team for the biggest race in the world.
An Irish woman has never ridden the Tour de France before, though Megan Armitage was selected in 2023 by her Arkéa team. However, she had to withdraw after a training ride crash just before the event. However, this year Ireland is expected to have as many as three riders on the start line next weekend.
Lara Gillespie is expected to secure selection by her UAE Team ADQ squad while former Irish road race and TT champion, Fiona Mangan, is also squarely in contention to go to the Tour this year with her Winspace Orange Seal team.
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The Tour de France starts on Saturday in Vannes, Brittany, north west France, and will be fought out over nine stages of action. Gillespie's and Mangan's teams are expected to confirm their line-ups very shortly, with both riders already having ridden the Vuelta.
Along with Griffin in the Roland team are: Poland's Kaja Rysz, Holland's Sylvie Swinkels, Switzerland's Petra Stiasny, Italy's Elena Pirrone, Russia's Tamara Dronova-Balabolina and France's Morgane Coston.
More to come.
