Having been one of the strongest riders on the home scene in recent years, Caoimhe O’Brien has put some recent bad luck behind her of late to take some strong results in Belgium, including her first victory in Europe.
O’Brien started her recent stint of racing in Belgium at the 93.8km Heusdenkoers kermesse on August 13th, taking 21st place. She moved onto the 127km Konvert Kortrijk Koerse (1.1) on August 19th and the 114.7km MerXem Classic (1.1) two days later but suffered mechanicals in both, and was taken out of those races very early.
However, she picked herself back up and got back into racing action at GP Kevin Van Impe on August 24th, finishing in 23rd place in the bunch - in a race won by compatriot Ellen McDermott (Keukens Redant CT).
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The following day O’Brien rode the 50km Aarschot criterium and claimed her first win in Europe. The Torelli-Cayman Islands-Scimitar went for the primes, winning several of them.
Every time she made a move for those sprints, several riders competing against her gained a gap on the main field. As the race went on, O’Brien decided to keep her effort going after the next prime effort and managed to force a breakaway clear.
That group worked together to gain a gap and at the finish O’Brien get the better of the other riders. Australian rider Jessica Pratt took 2nd place with Belgian Rosanne Breugelmans in 3rd.
The following day, O’Brien rode the 63.8km Rollegem criterium and took 4th place. The race was won by Shari Bossuyt (Canyon Sram) by 10 seconds from Allison Mrugal (Amy D Foundation). Marjolein Van ‘T Geloof (Le Col Wahoo) won the group sprint for 3rd place, at 2.46, with O’Brien next in 4th.
