An U23 bronze medal at the National Road Championships in Limerick just over a month ago suggested Abi Conway (Westport Covey Wheelers) was making a breakthrough this year.
And now the 20-year-old from Co Mayo has landed his first big win; leading the way today at the end of the second stage at Newry Three Day after 93km of racing.
From a 16-rider field, about 10 were left standing as the finish neared, the group further splintered in the closing stages, with just six riders fighting it out on the line.
And though the field may be small, that front group was packed with plenty of quality. Conway got the verdict ahead of Amelia Tyler (Unattached), Gabriella Fox (Greenmount CA) and Irish junior international Aine Doherty (VC Glendale).
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Aine Kelly (Orwell Wheelers) and junior international Aliyah Rafferty (Tofauti Everyone Active) were 5th and 6th. Yesterday's stage 1 winner, and yellow jersey, Darcey Harkness (VC Glendale) was next, in 7th place and losing 21 seconds.
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Rafferty, still just 16-years-old, was very active during today's stage on the Camlough circuit, taking maximum points on the three passages of the Kilcurry climb. She also won one of the intermediate sprints, with the other taken by Harkness.
But at the finish it was a delighted Conway who led the way, taking victory in a manner that suggests we will be seeing a lot more of her.
Going into tomorrow's final stage, as the opening day ended in a bunch sprint and today's fight for victory was a six-rider sprint, there are six women on the same time at the top of the standings, with Conway in yellow.
Harkness swaps yellow for the points classification jersey while Rafferty leads both the climbers' competition and young rider classification.
