Mia Griffin was officially unveiled as a World Tour rider just a few days ago and now the Irish international is already bracing for the start of her first season in the top flight of the sport. The Kilkenny woman will fly to Australia tomorrow with her new Israel Premier Tech Roland team mates for their first races of the year.
Griffin has raced at Continental level for the last two seasons, with Team Rupelcleaning/IBCT, and her signing for Israel Premier Tech Roland is a big step in her career. Griffin's trip to Australia will offer an ideal racing and training opportunity ahead of an expected appearance for Ireland at the European Track Championships in Switzerland next month.
The 24-year-old Irish rider will be part of her new team's line-up taking on the Santos Tour Down Under, from January 15th to 17th. Also named in the team alongside Griffin are Italian Silvia Magri, Vietnamese rider Thị Thật Nguyễn, Britain's Claire Steels, Italy's Elena Pirrone and Swiss rider Caroline Baur.
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They will go up against a stacked field which includes most of the big teams in the world, namely: Jayco Alula, Trek-Segafredo, FDJ-Suez, Human Powered Health, EF Education-Tibco-SVB. There are also a number of other smaller teams in the field, along with national selections from both Australia and New Zealand.
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Before the racing commences on Sunday, the riders will line out in the Schwalbe Classic; an hour-long criterium race in Adelaide on Saturday.
The Tour Down Under then begins with the opening stage on Sunday; some 110.4km from Glenelg to Aldinga, featuring just one modest categorised climb.
Monday's stage 2 takes the riders 90km from Birdwood to Uraidla with two climbs. The second of those ascents is the cat 1 Mount Lofty; a 6km incline crested just 10km from the finish and which could do a lot of damage.
The final day of action, stage 3 next Tuesday, takes the riders 93.2km from Adelaide to Campbelltown with the 2.3km cat 1 climb of Corkscrew crested just over 7km from the finish. It averages nine per cent and has a maximum gradient just above 24 per cent and should blow the race to pieces.
