Lara Gillespie (UAE Development Team) has put in another fine performance on the European pro scene in the Netherlands while compatriot Fiona Mangan (Cynisca Cycling) has taken one of the best results of her career in France.
Mangan was riding Bretagne Ladies Tour (2.1) and put in very strong performances on two of the three stages. The opener was an 18.8km TT, which the Irish rider had to ride without a TT bike.
And but for that handicap, especially over such a long distance, where the time gaps were quite significant, Mangan would have put together a much better general classification performance.
However, she emerges from the three-day race with stage placings of 12th and 5th; the latter result coming on the final stage which was won by general classification leader, and eventual winner, Grace Brown of (FDJ-SUEZ).
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On the final stage of the race yesterday - 135.6km from Hénon to Plouaret - Brown attacked from the remains of the peloton with 10km to go. And though she put in a great solo effort, she was hunted down all the way to the line where she just hung on to win by three seconds from the peloton.
Mangan was 4th in the uphill sprint, from the bunch, for 5th place on the stage; an impressive result for the 28-year-old. The bunch sprint for 2nd, just behind Brown, was won by Thalita de Jong (Lotto Dstny Ladies) from Fien Van Eynde and Sanne Cant (both Fenix-Deceuninck) and then Mangan.
The Irish rider also finished in 12th place on stage 2, which took the riders some 138km from Plouigneau to Morlaix. Five riders finished just 16 seconds up on the remains of the peloton, numbering just 45 riders.
The stage was won from that small breakaway by Sarah Roy (Cofidis Women Team) from Alessia Vigilia (FDJ-SUEZ) and Sanne Cant (Fenix-Deceuninck), with Mangan 7th in the bunch sprint for 12th on the stage.
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The Irish woman finished 71sth in the 18.8km TT in Grand-Champ, losing 3:53 to stage winner Brown, who went into the race leader's jersey and retained it all the way. She won the TT by 52 seconds from her team mate Amber Kraak.
In the Netherlands yesterday, Lara Gillespie finished 2nd in ZLM Omloop der Kempen Ladies (1.2), the latest in a series of very strong results for the Wicklow rider on the road in recent weeks.
The 120.6km race, starting and finishing in Veldhoven, came down to a bunch sprint, which was won by Italy's Sara Fiorin after a lead-out from her UAE Development Team Irish team mate, Gillespie. Marjolein van 't Geloof (Hess Cycling Team).
Irish 20-year-old Aoife O'Brien (Cyclingteam Belco / Van Eyck) was also in action in the same race and put in a very strong ride to finish in the bunch; placing 44th and just on the wrong side of a four-second split in the peloton.
Meanwhile, in Britain another of the O'Brien sisters, Caoimhe, was in action in RideLondon Classique, along with her Irish DAS-Hutchinson-Brother-UK team mate Alice Sharpe.
All three stages, including today's finale, were won by Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime), who was also victorious in the general classification.
Sharpe was 31st, on the same time was the winner, on the 159km opening stage from Saffron Walden to Colchester on Friday while O'Brien 55th at 15 seconds. Yesterday, after 143km starting and finishing in Maldon, O'Brien and Sharpe were 23rd and 24th, both at eight seconds.
And on today's closing stage - 91.2km in central London - Sharpe and O'Brien were 47th and 50th, both on the same time as threepeat winner Wiebes.
