By Shane Stokes
Megan Armitage looks set to participate in the women’s Tour de France this year, with the Offaly rider confirming to stickybottle that she has been given a provisional green light for the race.
Last Friday Tour de France Femmes organiser ASO announced the wildcards for this year’s race, with Armitage’s Arkéa Pro Cycling squad one of five handed invitations. They will join AG Insurance-Soudal Quickstep, Cofidis, St Michel Mavic-Auber 93 and Coop-Hitec Products on the start line on July 23rd.
Armitage has been her team’s top performer this year, with the new signing winning the final stage plus the overall classification in the Vuelta Extremadura Féminas in March and netting fourth in the mountains classification in the Tour de Normandie Féminin later that month.
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On Saturday she was one of the most aggressive riders in the Grand Prix Féminin de Chambéry, leading the race solo in the closing stages, winning the mountains classification and finishing a superb fourth in the 1.1-ranked event.
That puts her to the head of the queue for selection, something she recently confirmed looked set to happen.
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“All going well, I’ve been told pretty much that I will have a spot doing it,” she told stickybottle. “I guess I have to just wait until I get there. There is obviously just so much that can happen in between now and then. But yeah, fingers crossed, it will be an absolute dream to be able to do it.”
The event is the biggest in women’s cycling and is hugely important. Armitage is a talented and ambitious rider, but said that being on the start line will be rewarding in itself.
“It’s something that I’ll be definitely trying to peak for. Obviously, I’ll be wanting to get the best results that I possibly can, but also it will be a massive moment for me personally,” she said.
“So I want to actually enjoy it and take it all in, instead of just being nervous about performing. I think if I go in happy then that is when the results will come.”
Fellow Irishwoman Mia Griffin could potentially also do the race, with her Israel Premier Tech Rolland one of those automatically qualifying.
No Irishwoman has ever ridden the women’s Tour before.
