Caoimhe O'Brien, the Irish international road rider competing with UK-based Continental team DAS-Hutchinson-Brother, has put in a fantastic performance in the Tour de Pologne (UCI 2.2) to take arguably the best results of her career to date.
The 22-year-old Westmeath woman has ended the race 12th overall but also showed she could really compete in the international field to take two top 10 placings on the road stage.
The race was won overall by Dutch rider Laura Molenaar, by 14 seconds from her VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling team mate, Scarlett Souren. Poland's Katarzyna Wilkos (MAT Atom Deweloper Wrocław) was 3rd overall at 27 seconds.
O'Brien ended the race, in 12th place in the international field, some 54 seconds down on the overall winner Molenaar, a 22-year-old taking her first major victory.
Ireland's O'Brien lost most of her time in the opening stage on Friday - a 4.5km TT in Lublin. She placed 55th, some 25 seconds down on stage winner Stina Kagevi (Team Coop-Repsol), an 18-year-old from Sweden who took silver in the junior TT at the Europeans last year.
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O'Brien's performance on yesterday's stage 2 was especially strong, with the Irish rider very much making the grade at the front as the field split to pieces on the 136km stage from Krasnystaw to Kraśnik.
Around the halfway point of the stage, the VolkerWessels riders repeatedly attacked on one of the climbs, with their moves split the the race. That action resulted in a 24-rider group forming at the front and pulling clear, with O'Brien among them.
Laura Molenaar from VolkerWessels launched an attack late in the stage to open a 25 second gap; winning the stage and taking the yellow jersey. Behind her, a nine-rider group sprinted in for the minor placings.
Again, O'Brien was among the strongest, placing 6th in that sprint for 7th on the stage. And she was again 7th on today's final stage, which ended in a reduced bunch sprint after 103km of racing from Nałęczów to Kazimierz Dolny.
The stage was won by general classification runner-up, Souren, from Anna van Wersch (Lotto Dstny Ladies) and Kaja Rysz (Lifeplus Wahoo)
