Irish road and track international rider Mia Griffin will be rubbing shoulders on the roads of Europe with the best pros in the world next season as she has been signed by a World Tour team.
The 23-year-old from Kilkenny is now one of the mainstays of the Irish national team, especially on the track, and is representing Ireland again this week at the UCI World Track Championships in Paris.
While she has ridden for IBCT, a Belgian-Irish Continental team, she is now taking the step up to World Tour level with Swiss team Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad, which rode the Tour de France Femmes this year.
Griffin was one of three new riders in the team unveiled today, along with Italian Sofia Collinelli (21) who was part of the junior team pursuit line-up that won the Worlds and Europeans in both 2018 and 2019. Also unveiled today for 2023 by the team was Silvia Magri, an Italian 21-year-old who rode for Born To Win G20 Ambedo this year.
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Griffin, who won bronze in the U23 pursuit at the Europeans two years ago, is a former GAA player turned cyclist. She secured some very strong results this year on the road while also leading out IBCT team mate, and fellow Ireland team pursuit rider, Alice Sharpe.
She took 2nd to Sharpe in the National Road Race Championships this year and was also 11th in SPAR Flanders Diamond Tour (1.1). Griffin also took 10th and 11th placings on stages at Baloise Ladies Tour (2.1). This year's performances were a big step up on last year when her sole top result in a UCI-ranked race was 9th in Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames (2.2).
Griffin had intended to get her apprenticeship in the pro peloton underway, with ILLI-Bikes Cycling Team, in early 2020 before the pandemic intervened as she was unpacking her bags in Belgium.
Griffin rode just one kermesse and Omloop van het Hageland (1.1) before the pandemic stopped racing. She was forced to return home after just a week in what should have been a quality season of UCI-ranked European racing.
We'll have more from Griffin shortly.
