A number of Irish riders are already well into their pro seasons, with Lara Gillespie and Mia Griffin taking strong results at the recent UAE Tour in the Middle East and now a group of top Irish women will be in action in Europe this weekend.
Attention turns to Belgium for the first major one-day races of the season this weekend, dubbed 'Opening Weekend' as it is seen by many as the start proper to the international road season.
Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Griffin (Roland) will again be pinning on numbers, taking their places in the thick of the action, and they will joined by other Irish riders who we expect to see in the green of Ireland later this year.
National elite road race and TT champion, Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal), Caoimhe O'Brien (Cynisca Cycling), Lucy Bénézet Minns (Lotto Ladies) and Aoife O'Brien (DAS-Hutchinson) will all move up a gear this weekend in terms of intensity of racing.
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On the agenda is Omloop Nieuwsblad (1.WWT) on Saturday, a very challenging assignment of 137.9km from Ghent to Ninove. And then on Sunday the action stays in Belgium for the 135.6km Omloop van het Hageland (1.1) from Aarschot to Tielt-Winge.
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With multiple short sharp climbs and cobble sections the order of the day, as is traditional in Belgium at this time of the year, the Irish will face the top World Tour teams, and their star riders, in these events. And the competition will offer a real measure of the early season pecking order for all involved.
On Saturday, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will include the climbs of the Muur and Bosberg late in the race; among eight climbs and eight pavé sectors. Mangan, Griffin and Bénézet Minns, who is new to pro racing having been a junior last year, will all be in action.
On Sunday in Omloop van het Hageland - with 15 bergs, three on each of the five laps of the course - Mangan will go again and will be joined by Gillespie and the O'Brien sisters.
Though Griffin and Gillespie have already taken impressive results at UAE Tour, with Gillespie also winning the elimination race at the European Track Championships, all of the Irish riders will be out to put in strong showings.
Racing at this level probably represents the steepest step up for Bénézet Minns, who is new to the scene but exceled as a junior over the last two seasons, including winning a European track title.
She has already been in action for her new team, racing Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain earlier this month against many of the top riders in the world, including overall winner Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ).
