Ireland's Mia Griffin gets into mix at Vuelta as Kopecky wins - Video

Mia Griffin is flying the Irish flag, literally, in her national champion's kit at La Vuelta, riding strongly on today's stage 4 (Photo: Rafa Gomez-Cor Vos)

Irish road race champion Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL) got herself into the mix in the final of stage 4 at La Vuelta today, Wednesday, but was left to rue becoming detached from her team mate at a vital point just before the sprint to the line began.

With Team SD Worx-Protime absolutely piling on the pressure on the front of the main field, and two turns to negotiate deep in the final kilometre, any slight mistake or fleeting hesitation was punished with an instant loss of position.

And so it came to pass for Olympian Griffin. That loss of the lead-out rider, rapidly followed by the twists and turns that strung out the front of the bunch, meant anyone, including Griffin, not in the top 10 was a long way from the front.

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However, the Irish rider made the best fist of it she could, finishing in 20th place on a day when Lotte Kopecky repaid the hard work of her SD Worx-Protime team mates by claiming victory.

She won from her team mate, Anna van der Breggen, and Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco). Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) was 4th, with race leader Franziska Koch (FDJ United - SUEZ) in 5th.

The 10-second stage winner’s time bonus has catapulted Kopecky into the race leader's red jersey; that double success coming after she finished 2nd on both stage 1 and yesterday.

Griffin's Italian team mate, and fellow sprinter, Italian Eleonora Ciabocco was a victim of the stage 2 crash that took out stage 1 winner, and then race leader, Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).

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Though Ciabocco had to abandon the race, it meant Griffin did not have to help position her today. And the Irish woman might have done more with her chance but for that hesitation close to the finish.

However, she can take real confidence from her performance today as she had forced her way into the reckoning into Antas de Ulla after 116km of racing, with over 1,500m of elevation gain.

That amount of climbing, at this level, made for a very challenging day. And the fact Griffin was in the mix, even if the wheels came off the wagon a little at the last, bodes very well for the Kilkenny woman.

Griffin will get one more chance tomorrow as the 120km stage 5 into Astorga looks like one for the sprints, before two big climbing stages, including the Angliru finish on Sunday.

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