Maeve Gallagher, aged just 16 years, was second Irish rider in the uphill TT at Rás na mBan. She leads the domestic rider classification. French pro Coralie Demay won the test and leads the race from Nicola Juniper who won the evening criterium, above. Lauren Creamer took the best result of an Irish rider so far with 6th in the crit (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Coralie Demay of France leads Rás na mBan as the race goes into its final day on Sunday.
She was best in the Saturday morning uphill TT in Tullaroan. She was runner-up on Friday’s Mount Leinster finale to stage 3; the only rider to stay with winner Nicola Juniper.
And that consistency put the Team Breizh rider into the race lead going into Saturday evening’s criterium stage in Kilkenny City.
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Maeve Gallagher (16) leads the domestic rider classification; the Irish champion middle distance runner and top juvenile triathlete is having a very strong race against elites and pros.
Juniper, a top British rider, claimed victory in the wet circuit race. But Demay finished on the same time as her and so kept her race lead.
Best of the Irish riders in the 6.5km morning test was Lydia Gurley; the Team Ireland rider in 14th at 1:02.
And in the evening stage, it was Lauren Creamer who was best of the Irish. The Scott-Orwell rider placed 6th in the bunch sprint to the line, the best result of any of the Irish women in this race so far.
Maeve Gallagher, a 16-year-old first-year junior, is riding against pros and our best elites at Rás na mBan. Yet she was second Irish rider in the uphill TT. She is also the leader of the domestic rider competition (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Going into Sunday’s finale, Demay holds a lead of just two seconds over Juniper. There is a bigger gap back to 3rd place; Rikke Lonne of Maaslandster International filling that berth at 57 seconds.
Of the Irish women, the highest placed in the general standings is Lydia Gurley. She is now in a very solid 10th place, some 2:07 off race leader Demay.
Saturday’s morning TT
After her success on Mount Leinster on stage 3, Juniper took the race lead. The TC Racing women also had the points and climbers’ jerseys.
But because Demay had stayed with her on the final climb up Mount Leinster, the gap between the two in first and second overall was just two seconds.
And that meant the uphill 6.5km TT on Saturday morning was nicely poised. Demay showed her climbing legs once again; this time besting Juniper by four seconds in a time of 13:35.
That was enough to leapfrog over her into the race lead by just two seconds. And the 25-year-old pro rider Demay, who usually competes with FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, will take some beating for the overall title on Sunday.
Race leader Coralie Demay in the wet evening circuit race. She punctured but got back in and holds her jersey with just one stage remaining.
Rounding out the podium in the TT was the overall race winner from two years ago; Lonne from Denmark. She was 27 seconds off TT winner Demay.
While Gurley flew the Irish flag, finishing best of the home riders in 14th, Maeve Gallagher arguably put in the ride of the day.
The Castlebar junior, riding for Team Verge Sports, was 17th in the test and second Irish rider home. She is one of a clutch of up and coming junior girls who look very good for the future.
She went toe-to-toe against the best Irish riders in an international field and breached the top 20. And she was beaten by only one of her compatriots; a result that bodes very well indeed.
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She was 1:18 down on the winner in the uphill test on a day when six minutes covered 1st to the back of the field.
With a new race leader, the women had a break in the middle of the day on Saturday before getting ready for the evening criterium.
Evening circuit race
The one-hour Saturday evening contest was held on a technical 2.1km course. A combination of the wet conditions and speed saw the field split to pieces.
And by the time it came down to a sprint for the finish line, just 37 of the 107 starters were in the peloton.
Most of the aggression came from eventual stage winner Juniper, aided and abetted by Anna Henderson, the British criterium champion.
While they shot off the front repeatedly, they couldn’t make it stick. And though Demay had a serious scare when she punctured, she got back on with the help of her team.
Lydia Gurley is best placed of the Irish overall; in 10th place going in Sunday's final 90km stage (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Class act: Nicola Juniper was best on the slopes of Mount Leinster. And she also showed the way in the criterium; a versatile and prolific rider from Britain.
In the end Juniper took the sprint victory in the rain from Desirée Ehrler (Momentum CCN) of Switzerland, with Henderson (Cycle Team OnForm) in 3rd.
While Creamer was best of the home challengers in 6th, she wasn’t the only Irish rider in the front group of 37 at the end of the criterium.
Mia Griffin of VC Ériu was also present and bagged a tidy result with 11th on the night. And just two places back was Ellen McDunphy (Momentum CCN).
Gurley was 18th and her Madison partner, and fellow European Track Championships silver medallist, Lydia Boyle (Team Ireland) finished 22nd.
Also making it home in the lead group were Irish riders Alice Sharpe and Orla Walsh, both of VC Ériu, and Team Ireland duo Katharine Smyth and Eve McCrystal, the latter the national champion.
One of the Irish absent from the front group was young Gallagher. However, true to form, she fought all the way to the line and gave up very little time.
She survived with the leaders, in testing conditions against a quality elite international field, almost all the way. And in the end she only gave away 51 seconds.
And that, combined with her TT ride, was enough to keep her at the top of the standings in the domestic rider classification.
That’s an excellent showing from a young athlete who is really stepping up in Kilkenny.
Going into the last stage, 90km into Kilkenny City and featuring the Woodstock climb, Demay leads by two seconds from Juniper with Lonne next at 57 seconds.
Gallagher holds the domestic rider classification by 4:43 from Team Verge Sports team mate Agnieszka Wozniak. And Imogen Cotter is 3rd; the Team NH rider 7:01 down on Gallagher.
Megan Barker (Team GB) holds the young rider classification lead, by 20 seconds from Henderson.
Juniper leads the points classification after her wins on stages 3 and 5. She has 26 points, just two more than Henderson.
Nicola Juniper also holds the queen of the mountains jersey; on a massive 51 points. Ireland’s Alice Sharpe is next to her on 28 points.
For full TT stage results, please follow this link. The stage 5 results and latest general classification standings are embedded below or are available by following this link.
[googlepdf url="https://storage.stickybottle.com/prod/uploads/2018/09/Ras-mBan-stage-5-results.pdf"]
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