Having taken up cycling less than eight months ago, Irish rider Marine Lenehan has now won her second European title in her maiden season, also collecting a Worlds silver medal along the way. She could hardly contain her delight yesterday when she claimed that second European title, this time on gravel, saying it seemed unreal to her.
"I'm thrilled, I still can't really believe it," she told stickybottle on her way to the airport in Belgium on Monday just 24 hours after her winning ride and just weeks after crashing hard at Rás na mBan.
"I hopped on a bike in February and it's two European titles in one year... it still seems a bit unreal, especially yesterday. Like, yesterday was really full gas from the beginning to the end, it was almost like cyclocross pace for the full race."
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Lenehan (25) won the 19-34 years women's race yesterday. In June she became European Grand Fondo champion. In early August she was the silver medallist in the Fondo world championships. Then, on August 22nd, she took the silver medal in the National Criterium Championships in Co Kildare.
However, yesterday's race was just her second competitive outing on gravel, and she was clearly stunned to win a week out from the Worlds, where she expected a hillier course and an even harder race.
"The competition was very high yesterday and it was also very warm - it wasn't supposed to be that warm," she said. "I can't say I suffer from the heat, but I was drinking a lot more than expected and I had support there for (feeding in) the race.
"It was actually quite a flat course when I did the recce but I guess when you're racing full gas, I guess at cyclocross speed and doing all those climbs, it felt hillier than I expected.
"But I was delighted with my performance and at the finish line, I was literally completely dead. Before the race I'd been a bit worried because this is only my second gravel race so I was scared I wouldn't have the bike handling skills.
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"I was worried I'd lose time going around corners; slipping and sliding the wrong way because I'm not used to riding gravel. And obviously riding on gravel and riding on the road are two different things."
Lenehan said her performance yesterday also really pleased her after coming out of a very difficult Rás na mBan, where she sustained crash injuries.
"The Rás made me stronger in one way, but I also crashed in the race. So I had an injury coming from the Rás, my ribs were very badly bruised and I didn't know if I'd be able to compete in the Europeans, and also in the Worlds next weekend. So I'm really happy to get a result after all of that."
She said she was struck by how fast last month's Rás na mBan was. adding it was "a very high level" of racing against "really strong" competition.
"I was thrilled with my county rider prize on the first day and then I had a few mechanicals and then the crash. So I didn't get the results I hoped for, but for a first stage race, I was thrilled with the experience.
"We had a wonderful Dan Morrissey team put together, all the riders really worked well together, it was a proper team effort. So, really, the Rás was a beautiful experience and I'll be up for it next year, for sure."
She was now very much looking forward to the Worlds next weekend. The course would be "completely different, with 22 per cent climbs and descents".
"And this time it will be very, very technical, hard, rough gravel whereas yesterday was smoother, faster, sandy; lose rock, sandy, type of gravel. That meant we could ride 35 tyres but for the Worlds I'll switch back to the 40s."
