Noémie Abgrall from France, and riding for Ladynamips RVC, was the big winner on stage 4 at Rás na mBan, where the mountains classification leader claimed her first stage victory of the race.
A former French junior international, Abgrall has won national-level one day races this year in France, including the amateur national championships. She has now seized the race leader's jersey, at the expense of Amelia Cebak (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team).
Though the honours today went to the foreign visitors, there were four Irish riders in the top 10 on the stage and one of those - Linda Kelly (Cycling Ireland's Women's Commission) - put in a great performance off the front.
Though Kelly has hit the heights in recent years as tandem pilot for paracyclist Katie George Dunlevy - the duo winning gold again and again at the Worlds and Paralympics - she is a class act in her own right.
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And today she took the battle to the others in the field, though was hampered by the fact her initial effort to get up the road was so strong, others did not go with her.
The main field was trimmed down on the first passage of the finishing climb of The Rower, with 46.5km still to go. However, with everyone's legs softened up by the opening hour of racing, and that first climb, Kelly was in the 40-strong front group and waiting for her chance.
When the group hit the 6km climb of Coppenagh, she launched a haymaker of an attack and got clear alone; taking maximum points over the top and riding away from the rest of the field.
Her big disadvantage was that nobody went with her; likely unbale or unwilling to strike out with a chunk of the stage, some 30km, still to come.
Kelly powered away off the front, building a lead of more than 30 seconds. Eventual big winner of the day, Abgrall, led the charge after Kelly up the climb, crossing the top of the climb in 2nd place, wrapping up the climbers' classification.
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When the dust settled after that climb, Abgrall’s Ladynamips RVC team, and a number of other squads, worked away at the front of the group and gradually closed the gap to Kelly. Her brave bid for glory was eventually closed down about 15km from the finish.
Denmark's Team Aalborg was one of those teams working to bring back Kelly and, after she was caught, they continued with that work, clearly keen to keep it together for 9th overall Gertrud Riis Madsen.
With just over 5km remaining, Esther Wong (Team Ireland) and Lea Brette (Ladynamips RVC) both tried with attacks, though Team Aalborg closed them down.
As the front group, numbering 35 riders, charged in towards the finish, it was Wong who tried to rip it up at the front, stringing them out and starting to split it.
However, Océane Goergen - winner of stages 1 and 3 - then stepped up, hitting it hard on the front and leading out her Ladynamips RVC team mate, Abgrall, who finished the job.
She won the day from Varvara Fasoi (Team Greece) and Denmark's Olympia Norrid-Mortensen (Torelli), with the first nine on the stage all equal on time.
Despite their efforts out on the road, Ireland's Kelly and Wong were still 5th and 6th, with junior rider Aliyah Rafferty (Team Ireland) in 10th place, at 5 seconds. The front group was strung out by 56 seconds from 1st to 36th.
Abgrall now leads overall by three seconds from Noor Dekker (WV Breda Women), with deposed race leader, Alica McWilliam (Team Phoenix), in 4th, after finishing 14th today, at seven seconds.
Team Ireland's Wong is now best-placed Irish rider, in 7th at 16 seconds, with Kelly 8th overall on the same time and teenager Rafferty 11th at 18 seconds.
The race is very tight at the top - some 36 seconds covering the top 20, and just 16 seconds covering the top 10 - with the short TT in Kilkenny to come tomorrow morning following by the afternoon criterium stage.
- For full results, stage and all classifications, please follow this link
