After a fantastic elite and U23 men’s road race at the
National Road Championships today, tomorrow is the turn of the women and an
excellent field is lined up for the women’s elite road race.
While a small number of heavy hitters are missing –
including last year’s silver medal winner Imogen Cotter – anyone with designs
on gold tomorrow has their work cut out for them given the strength in depth in
this field.
Headlining is last year’s champion Alice Sharpe, this
time riding for UCI team Ciclotel. Twelve months ago she took flight early with
Cotter and Kathryn Smith (Ballymena Road Club) and beat Cotter in a two-up
sprint with Smyth holding off the others to take bronze.
Racing at the highest level in Europe in recent seasons, Sharpe goes into tomorrow’s race after a recent win in Belgium and she is the favourite to take another gold medal.
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However, in a season that has seen so much racing at home
and abroad wiped out due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is almost impossible to
get a handle on the form of riders going into tomorrow’s race.
The elite women face four laps of an undulating 20.5km course, based around Knockaderry, Co Limerick, in the Newcastle West Wheelers promotion under race director Liam Collins.
While Sharpe will be watched very closely by her rivals,
for good reason, Eve McCrystal (Strata 3-VeloRevolution) is another stand-out
name.
It is no exaggeration to say she was a dominant winner of the elite women’s TT last Thursday and she pointed out after that win that it was the first time she had beaten defending TT champion Kelly Murphy (Storey Racing).
McCrystal added the lock-down had been good for her in
allowing her to focus on her training and recovery and that was very clear to
see on Thursday.
She won this event two years ago and could do it again
tomorrow to take a rare double. Unlike Sharpe, McCrystal also has some strong
team mates in the Strata 3-VeloRevolution line-up in the shape of Becky Woods
and Grace Young.
Indeed, Young is another potential winner, having
recently claimed the national elite criterium championships.
A versatile and prolific rider, she has won repeatedly on
the road and in cyclocross for many seasons and if she gets even half a chance
she can go home with another title tomorrow.
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Maeve Gallagher (Castlebar Cycling Club) is also in the field and as one of the best young athletes in Ireland at present – she is a cycling, running and triathlon international – she is capable of taking the race to the older more experienced riders and beating them.
Gallagher has proven top of the class in every discipline
she has tried and winning tomorrow, or taking silver or bronze, would be
another seamless step in her progression.
Like Gallagher, there are also other riders who go into
tomorrow’s race without team mates but who could get onto the podium, and maybe
even take the top step depending on the how the race pans out.
Hilary Hughes (Westport Covey Wheelers) is a class
performer on the bike and in triathlon; Mia Griffin (ILLI-Bikes Cycling Team)
is a track international who has won some of the biggest road races in the
country; Kelly Murphy (Storey Racing) is a double Irish TT champion and track
international while Ellen Mc Dermott (Team Boompods) is last year’s criterium
champion.
Any rider who gets clear in a breakaway tomorrow with any
one of those women will have their hands full as all are capable of having a
huge say in the destination of the title.
Another formidable team in the field is that of UCD Cycling Club; two potential winners in Lara Gillespie and Maura Claffey backed by Sally McHugh and Emma Porter.
Gillespie is one of Irish cycling’s rising stars and is
capable doing serious damage tomorrow. She has already won junior and elite
titles – on the road and in cyclocross respectively – as well as medaling
repeatedly as a junior on the track at the Worlds and Europeans.
Claffey is one of the most improved riders of recent
seasons and is now a top tier domestic rider. She won the Laragh Classic last
year and if she can go as well tomorrow she can be in contention for a medal of
any colour.
Others capable of giving a very good account of themselves
and pulling off a result include Nikki Taggart (Arcane Cycling Team) and the
Ballymena Road Club trio of Sharon Bird, Laura Campbell and Eileen Burns, the
former Irish TT champion and the winner of the bronze medal last Thursday.
If Burns could get away in a breakaway and seek to take
her chances later in the race, using her TT horsepower, she can medal again
tomorrow.
Jennifer Bates is riding this year with Weston
Homes-Torelli-Assure and goes into tomorrow’s race alongside team mate Autumn
Collins; both of whom can force themselves into contention.
One of the key features of this year’s field is the strength in depth. Long gone are days of a handful of women being head and shoulders above the rest. That should make for a great race.
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