A new member of Ireland's national track team this year, Emma Jeffers is just about to ride her first Worlds. She is enjoying a rapid period of progression in her career, as underlined by her first classification win in a UCI-ranked race at the weekend.
The Liv AlUla Jayco Women's Conti rider wasn't able to take her stage win tally to two yesterday at Giro Mediterraneo in Rosa (2.2) in Caivano near Naples. But she ended the race with her reputation further boosted.
Still aged just 20 years, and a stage winner at Rás na mBan as an 18-year-old, Jeffers has unquestionably joined that wave of new Irish riders fighting their way to the top of the sport; all of whom have come through since the pandemic.
They have taken up the flag flown for so long by Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Sam Bennett and others on the European scene, road and track, though 10-time Grand Tour stage winner Bennett is not done yet of course.
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Jeffers blasted to victory on Saturday's stage 2 in Italy, proving by far the fastest in the bunch sprint that decided the honours. She had to settle for 2nd yesterday on the final stage, after a short concluding race of just 61km.
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She lost out to Belarussian Hanna Tserakh (Aromitalia 3T Vaiano), who got the jump in the final and managed to hold on to the line. Tserakh won by four seconds from Jeffers, with Anita Baima (Horizons Cycling Club-Team 1971) 3rd a further one second back.
Jeffers claimed the points classification in the race, due to her 1st and 2nd on two of the three stages. That marks an important juncture for her as it was the first time she has won a classification in a senior UCI-ranked race. Her team mate, Italian Matilde Vitillo, won the race overall.
Jeffers's victory on Saturday came just two weeks after she won stage 2 at Memorial Michela Fanini (2.2), also in Italy. Those victories bring to four the number of UCI-ranked races she has won since signing for her current team as she also claimed two stages at Gracia (2.2) in the Czech Republic last year.
The next big assignment for Jeffers is donning the green of Ireland at the UCI World Track Championships in Santiago, Chile, early next month.
She is in that team with European elimination race champion Lara Gillespie (UAE Team UDQ), Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal), Aoife O’Brien (DAS-Hutchinson), Caoimhe O’Brien (Cynisca Cycling) and Erin Creighton (McConvey Cycles).
