A former Irish junior road race champion - and junior international on road and track - Aoife O'Brien (19) has hit the ground running this year in what is her first season as an U23 rider. Now competing with Irish team Spellman Dublin Port, O'Brien won the first round of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series the weekend before last in Blarney, Co Cork.
And following on from that victory at the Donal Crowley Memorial, she took 2nd place at last Sunday's Des Hanlon Memorial in Co Carlow, behind her older sister Caoimhe.
The Westmeath teenager told stickybottle she felt her switch to full-time racing - and training during the winter - has stood her in good stead as she chases her goals in 2023, hopefully including international selection for the biggest events.
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She is especially excited about the new Tour de l’Avenir Féminin being run for the first time this season; a race she will have four years to get to, though she is hoping it will not take that long.
"I did my Leaving Cert last June and I got a business course in DCU but I took a gap year, I deferred the course to start next September," she said of deciding to put her studies on hold for now and give cycling her full attention.
"As I was going into under 23 I wanted to step it up. So I was abroad before Christmas in Alicante for a month and then I was home over Christmas and went abroad again to Calpe for another month. I got a good few blocks done, really consistent work. So that has helped and I think I have a better mindset this year, I'm trying to be more aggressive."
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O'Brien rode the junior track Worlds on the Ireland team last year, rode the European Road Championships in both her junior years and was also selected for the road Worlds in 2021. Looking ahead, she wants to continue mixing road and track.
She will be doing international track racing with Spellman Dublin Port, the first such meeting in Athens at the end of April; a C2 fixture. Other international track racing in Italy and France is also in the pipeline, though not confirmed yet. O'Brien also has an eye on the U23 European Track Championships in Portugal in July.
She is also hoping some opportunities will come up to race on the road with the Irish national team this year. With a women's Tour de l'Avenir being promoted this season, she said she would "love to be sent to that" if an Irish team was selected. Furthermore, she was hoping for selection onto the national team for the World Road Championships in Glasgow in August.
For now, however, next up is the Gorey Three Day this weekend. She is also looking forward to the next rounds of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series, which she now leads. O'Brien said she expected more competition at the series as the season progresses.
"It's a good stepping stone to measure yourself throughout the year," she said of the national series. "Obviously it's still early days in the season and it's good to have some big races to look forward to. And whichever ones I am around for I am going to do. I will try and defend (the overall lead).
"In the summer time, for road racing, hopefully I could also guest for a team Belgium to do some races over there, because sometimes the road racing during the summer in Ireland is a bit dead. So it would be great to get over to Belgium."
