Irish U23 road race champion Caoimhe O'Brien (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother-UK) has taken a big win in Belgium, having been repeatedly knocking on the door of victory on the kermesse scene there in recent weeks.
She was best of the breakaway at the end of 103.5km Maria-ter-Heide Brasschaat near Antwerp, with no fewer than three Irish riders in the top 10 at the end of what was a very aggressive race.
Both O'Brien and her sister, Aoife O'Brien (Cyclingteam Belco-Van Eyck), have been on a strong run in Belgium in recent weeks, hoovering up top 10 placings, including podium finishes, and now Caoimhe has landed her first win of their current racing stint.
The O'Briens have been named on the national team for Rás na mBan next month and on the basis of their form in recent weeks in Belgium, they will go into Kilkenny-based stage race carrying big hopes of repeating the Irish stage wins of the last two editions.
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Grace Reynolds, the (Brother UK-Orientation Marketing) rider who finished 2nd in the elite road race at the National Road Championships in Limerick in June after a long-range solo attack, was also up the road in Belgium yesterday. She finished 5th, just seconds behind the top three.
O'Brien won a close sprint between the podium finishers; getting the better of her British team mate, Sophie Lewis, with Belgian rider Paquita Derie (Baloise-WB Ladies) claiming 3rd place; the top threee.
Kimberly Stoveld, an American riding for Automatic-Abus Racing, was 4th at two seconds followed by Reynolds, a UK-based rider who recently declared for Ireland, taking 5th in the same time. And while Britain's Alex Morrice (Canyon-Sram Racing) was 6th at 14 seconds, there was then a much bigger gap back to the next group on the road.
The winning breakaway gained three minutes on those chasers; Julie Hendrickx (Lotto Dstny Ladies) winning the sprint for 7th place at 2:59. Aoife O'Brien was in that group and took 10th place from a field of 74 starters.
