National junior road race champion, and international triathlete, Maeve Gallagher came through two crashes to finish the European Championships.
The Mayo rider went into the junior
women’s road race in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, on Saturday with Lucy O’Donnell
on the Irish team.
Unfortunately for O’Leary Stone Kanturk’s
O’Donnell, her race ended when she crashed out, though she escaped serious
injury.
Gallagher also came down, falling twice,
but was in a position to battle on. And on a day when the 82 finishers were
covered by 13 minutes, Gallagher recovered well.
At the end of the 69km race, she was in the second group on the road; placing 38th just 1:18 behind the winner.
Dutch rider Ilse Pluimers took
the title; finishing solo some four seconds up on a 26-rider group.
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The winner’s compatriot Sofie van Rooijen took silver
with France’s Kristina Nenadovic claiming bronze.
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“The course was fast and technical like
a crit and the race was split to bits within the first two laps,” said
Gallagher, a rider better suited to climbs that flat and fast racing.
“Unfortunately the heavy rain made the
roads very dangerous and slippy and there was numerous crashes throughout the bunch.
“Lucy and I were also unlucky to be gridded near the back at the start,” she added; something the Irish U23 men also experienced and were disadvantaged by.
“I came down twice; once on the first
lap and then managed to get back into the front group. Then I came down again
on the second lap and lost contact with the main group.
“My bike was damaged but I’m pleased to
have finished up in the large chase pack.
“It was a great experience riding with
such a high quality field on a course which wouldn’t be suited to my cycling
strengths.
“Fortunately I didn’t pick up any
serious injuries as I’m heading to Tokyo tomorrow for the Olympic triathlon
test event.”
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