Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin will be the first Irish women in European pro road race action this year when they line up on the start line of Vuelta CV Feminas (1.1) tomorrow, Sunday.
The 92km race from Paterna to Valencia features some of the biggest teams in the world including WorldTour squads Movistar, Uno-X Pro Cycling Team and UAE Team ADQ.
Sharpe and Griffin, who are also part of the Irish team pursuit line-up on the track, have been in action on the track of late. They took on Anadia International Race - a C1 meeting in Anadia, Portugal – two weeks ago. They rode the omnium and Madison, finishing 5th in the latter.
Since that meeting wrapped up they have been on a 10-day training camp with their team Illi Bikes, the UCI Continental team formerly known as Rupelcleaning-Champion Lubricants.
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Griffin and Sharpe will ride Vuelta CV Feminas, a one-day race, tomorrow before looking ahead to the major one-day early season events in Belgium, where Sharpe enjoyed a very strong block last year.
She kicked off with Le Samyn at the start of March; the first of eight major races in Belgium over four weeks which also included Gent Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl – finishing all of them.
Griffin (23) also rode the same eight races last year, finishing three, and the U23 Europeans bronze medalist will look to go further this year using the experience gained from her first taste of that racing last season.
While both Irish women have plenty of road racing coming up with their trade team in the weeks ahead, they are also looking towards the UCI World Cup in Glasgow in April.
