Until recently all of the talent of Irish cycling would have been competing on home roads this week at Rás na mBan. But such is depth now in women's cycling that the Irish team won the opening stage in Kilkenny yesterday, even though three of our top riders were racing for their trade teams in France.
Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ), Fiona Mangan (Cynisca Cycling) and Megan Armitage (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team) are all competing in the seven-stage Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche (2.1) and had an action packed day yesterday on stage.
Mangan placed 7th and Gillespie 12th in the bunch sprint that settled stage 1, with Armitage also finishing in the bunch after she had been in the breakaway for most of the stage and then went solo from it, only being caught with 3km to go.
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The finish result on stage 1 meant they were well placed overall going into yesterday's stage 2. However, those positions were undermined when time gaps initially recorded in results showed all three riders losing time, after a stage in which both Armitage and Gillespie flexed their muscle at the front.
Thankfully, those gaps were cancelled after it emerged they had been caused by a major crash close to the finish in Nîmes. It means all three Irish riders, ahead of today's stage 3, were among a group of 81 riders all equal on time with yesterday's stage winner, now overall leader, Michaela Drummond (Farto-BTC Women's Cycling Team).
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Mangan's result on stage 1 was the best result of her 2023 season while Gillespie is capable of a stage win at this race and Armitage - fresh from 5th overall at Giro Toscana Int Femminile (2.2) - is a general classification contender.
Armitage underlined her credentials, and form, yesterday at one of the hardest points of the race. She went for the climbers' points on the first climb of the stage, crested just 7km into the stage, and was 3rd across the line.
The pressure applied at that point of the race split the field, with a 33-rider group pressing clear and building an advantage of well over one minute, though they were caught about 30km later. Much deeper into the stage, Gillespie contested - and won - one of the three intermediate sprints, while she had also scored points in the sprints on stage 1.
Armitage also had a lively day on the opening stage, scoring climbers' points, and going into today's stage she was 2nd in that climbers' classification, with four points compared, some five points down on leader Maëlle Grossetête (FDJ-SUEZ).
While all three Irish riders were impacted by the crash at the finish yesterday, they start today's stage 3 - a flat 119.6km starting and finishing in Avignon - still in contention in the general classification.
