By Shane Stokes
Mia Griffin was announced this week as a third Irish rider joining the new DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK squad and has described the new setup as the perfect one for her to juggle twin goals this year.
She and Alice Sharpe were both part of the Israel Premier Tech Rolland squad last season and while going from World Tour level to Continental might seem like a step backwards, she told stickybottle that the decision will perfectly align with what both riders are trying to achieve in 2024.
The Kilkenny woman also spoke about Ireland qualifying a place already in the road race at the Olympics - her results proving crucial - and about her aspiration to make more progress after this season.
Griffin and Sharpe are, of course, both part of the Irish team pursuit squad which finished fourth this week in the European championships, and which is on course to qualify for the Olympic Games.
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Making the Olympics has been a key goal for a long time, and so being able to dedicate time to track preparation and racing was vital for both her and Sharpe.
“This year I’d rather be on a smaller team with a bit more flexibility, then next year I would like to find a bigger team for sure and go more full road,” Griffin said.
“This season we will have quite a lot of track commitments at the start of the year but then there is quite a nice pocket in March to get some nice road racing in. It will be nice to then meet with all the girls on the team and get racing.
“I think we will have quite a nice race calendar and get some nice race entries, but we will have to see. The directors have given me a really good impression so I am excited to work with them.”
Also on the team is 2023 national road race championship runner-up Caoimhe O’Brien, one of the most promising up and coming riders.
“The fact that we have got the three Irish girls on it now is cool,” Griffin said. “This is going to be my fourth year on the same team as Alice, which is great. It is cool having another girl that is racing on the track as well.
“Alice is one of my best mates so being on the same team as her for four years is pretty cool. Usually you come and go with teams. You usually don’t get to be on the same team with a person for more than a year or two.
“We have ended up being on the same team for a good few years, so I am pretty happy about that.”
Griffin, Sharpe, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy and Erin Creighton all rode strongly last week at the European championships. Creighton helped the team to fifth in the qualifiers and was then replaced by Griffin for round one plus the bronze medal final.
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In terms of road racing, joining up with O’Brien later this spring is something she is looking forward to.
“I am excited to race with Caoimhe as well because it was really nice competing with her in Rás na mBan. The last time I had raced with her was a few years ago at Kreiz Breizh when she was just a really young one. Now she is after really maturing and growing through all the races.”
Securing Olympic road race qualification
Last week Griffin’s attention was fully on the European Track Championships. She took that fourth place in the team pursuit on Thursday and then finished tenth in the evening scratch race as well as going on to place 16th in the elimination race.
After that she and the other Irish track riders are due to compete in the Adelaide Nations Cup round in early February and the Hong Kong round in mid-March.
Depending on the results there, that could be enough to secure the team pursuit place in Paris and, with it, a slot in the Madison and Omnium events.
The Ireland team also has a fallback option of the Milton round of the Nations Cup in April, but Stickybottle understands the team will only travel to Canada if Olympic qualification has not already been secured by then.
With some road racing possible from March onwards, Griffin’s attention will switch fully back to track as the Games draw closer, then will revert to road again.
The Kilkenny rider showed her potential in road racing with a superb end of season in 2023. She came back from a concussion to win two stages in Rás na mBan, and then performed strongly in two WorldTour races in China.
She was a fine eighth on stage one of the WorldTour level Tour of Chongming Island in October, and then five days later sprinted to third in the one day Tour of Guangxi.
Those two results added 270 points to Ireland’s world ranking, boosting the country from 49th to 33rd.
That proved crucial for Olympic road qualification, putting Ireland inside the top 45 teams right at the deadline and thus securing a slot in the Olympic road race in Paris.
Griffin said afterwards that she is very unlikely to take up that slot as the team pursuit competition begins a day after the road race. Another rider will be able to line out instead, with Griffin focusing fully on the velodrome.
Those end of season results would have boosted the interest of big teams for 2024 but she sees DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK as the perfect place to be.
“With the year of track, I think they are really keen to facilitate it,” she said. “There is Sophie Lewis from the British team who is also on the squad. I think they understand the commitments for track from her last year, because she rides for GB [Great Britain].
“They have a nice understanding, and I think for us that is the most important thing this year. Because with Euros and then the Nations Cups, it is going to be quite a travel-heavy year. When we can do road racing we will. It seems like the perfect team to do so.”
