Mia Griffin was in the mix at the front today on La Vuelta, though two turns deep into the final kilometre didn't do her any favours (Photo: Rafa Gomez-Cor Vos)
Having had her first shot at a sprint finish on her debut at La Vuelta, Mia Grffin (Picnic PostNL) said she was caught out a little, but hoping for a second run at it tomorrow, Thursday. She told stickybottle her form was good to the extent she felt she was climbing well; a good sign for a sprinter.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it was going to come to a sprint today," she said of being in contention but eventually finishing 20th. "I saw the profile and with over 1,500 of climbing I didn't know I was going to go that close today, it more looked like a proper sprint day for tomorrow.
"And then at the end today, one of my team mates was moving up and I didn't follow her... I didn't think I'd still have the gas at the end. So that wasn't ideal but I didn't expect it to play out that way.
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"When my team mate moved up, she was really strong. But still, it gives me confidence going into tomorrow. Because even without the ideal terrain, I can be up there."
Griffin has had to recalibrate over the last 48 hours after her team mate, Eleonora Ciabocco, crashed in the incident on stage 2 that also took out race leader Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).
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Though Ciabocco got back on her bike and finished the stage, she did not start yesterday. She has since been diagnosed with fractured vertebrae and fractured ribs.
"Only two of them crashed and she broke three vertebrae and three ribs," Griffin said of her team mate, who wore the young rider classification leader's jersey. "That was sad because she was really strong and had high expectations."
And so Griffin, who would have been part of the support for the Italian in the sprints, has had to refocus on having a go herself at the finishes.
"Tomorrow is the last chance because the two days after that, for sure, won't be for me because we're going up those big climbs, including Angliru. So tomorrow, for me, in a way is the last stage, in my head anyway."
Griffin said that, generally speaking, she was quite happy with her condition as her run in to the race had been illness-free and she had knocked out a good block of training in Switzerland in recent weeks.
"The climbing legs are there, which is kind of an unusual feeling," she laughed, adding wearing the Irish champion's jersey in a Grand Tour, as she also did at last season's Giro, was a "great experience".
"It's lovely, it also helps you move around better, which is nice. It really is nice."
