She made her intentions known from the very start of this race, and now Nicola Juniper is in control; the stage winner, mountains leader and overall race leader (All photos Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Having claimed the first climbers' prime of Rás na mBan two days ago and tightened her grip on the climbing classification yesterday, Nicola Juniper swept the boards on stage 3 today.
The top British rider was first to the top of Mount Leinster to win the stage and took the overall lead in the process.
Using the climbing legs that brought her 3rd in the mountains competition at the pro Tour de Yorkshire earlier this year, Juniper pulled clear on the climb.
The only rider who could match her was French woman Coralie Demay; a pro with FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope but guesting on this race with Team Breizh.
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It was only at the top of the climb that the two women were separated a little; Juniper's burst for the finish line carrying her clear of her rival by two seconds.
The win means Juniper now has a stage to her name, leads the race overall and also holds the climbers' and points jerseys.
Behind the two leaders today, a gap of over 30 seconds would elapse before the next best finished. And then scattered back the road at various intervals was the remainder of the field.
In 3rd place, some 32 seconds down on the winner, came Rikke Loone (Maaslandster International). She was with Team GB’s Megan Barker.
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And behind those two, just five seconds later, came another one of the British women; Anna Henderson riding for Team OnForm.
The 37-year-old stage winner and new race leader is a former British National Road Series winner. She also rode on the British team at the recent European Road Championships.
The remaining 112 riders in the race faced 110km on stage 3 today; the feared slopes of Mount Leinster leading the racers to the finish line.
Juniper was in flying form all day, collecting maximum points on the climbs of Corrabut Gap and Nine Stones.
Team Ireland and Team GB rode into the base of the final climb. And when race leader Iris Sachet was distanced as the road went up, it became clear the stage winner would take her jersey.
Unsurprisingly given her form, Juniper proved best; climbing really well and executing the finish perfectly once she got a look at the line.
Lydia Gurley of the Irish National Team had a very solid ride; placing 12th just 1:07 down.
Next of the Irish was Alice Sharpe of VC Ériu, placing 19th at 1:32. Katharine Smyth of the Irish team was just two more places back, some 1:39 down.
Lauren Creamer of Scott-Orwell was next of the Irish, in 23rd place some 1:47 off the winner.
Then came the best of the domestic rider classification riders; junior Maeve Gallagher, pictured in her classification leader's jersey above.
The Castlebar CC teenager, guesting with Team Verge, was 26th at 1:50; a very solid ride.
The riders face two stages tomorrow, including the uphill 6.4km time trial at Tullaroan. That’s followed by the one-hour city centre circuit race in Kilkenny City.
Full results can be viewed embedded below or by following this link.
[googlepdf url="https://storage.stickybottle.com/prod/uploads/2018/09/Stage-3-Rás-na-mBan.pdf"]
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