Aoife O'Brien (Spellman Dublin Port) has won the opening round of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series 2023; the Westmeath teenager proving best of a strong breakaway group in the Blarney Cycling Club promotion on Sunday.
The 19-year-old, in her first season out of the junior ranks, proved best after the climb of Nadd Mountain did most of the damage in breaking up the race. And though a few riders came back at the select group that formed on the climb, they dropped back leaving the five strongest women in the race out front to fight it out in a finish marred by a crash.
O'Brien got the verdict ahead of Jemma Speers, the North Down Cycling Club woman who took a very aggressive approach today. Erin Creighton (McConvey Cycles), who was also on the attack in the combined junior and senior race, placed 3rd.
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The women raced for 90km, including 900m of climbing on one large loop that included Nadd Mountain, before exiting that circuit and racing back towards Blarney for the finish. And with that climb on everyone's mind from the start, the action proper took a while to kick off in the bunch.
However, with about 15-20km covered, it was Speers who threw in the first significant effort of the day. Her injection of pace split to field, with a group of about 10 emerging at the front.
That group was whittled down a little by the time they reached Nadd Mountain, though it included some very strong riders. The eventual top three were there - O'Brien, Speers and Creighton - along with Ella Doherty (UCD Cycling Club), Marine Lenehan (Dan Morrissey-Primor by Pissei), Yvonne Doran (Orwell Wheelers) and Mary Corless (Challenge CC).
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About 500m from the top of the Nadd Mountain ascent, Creighton took it up with an attack. She was chased by O'Brien, who managed to get around her before the top, to take the prime and crest the climb solo just ahead of another four riders.
Those five front runners - O'Brien, Speers, Doherty, Creighton and Lenehan - then came together to form the front group on the road. And though they began working, some of the women then had distanced on the climb came back at them, including Doran and Corless.
Once that larger group had formed, and with about 35-40km remaining, it was the turn of O'Brien to test the others. When she attacked the group was whittled down a little. The continued pace up front saw the riders who had clawed their way back on after the main climb losing their place in the front group.
With about 25km to go, it was back down to the five that had proven strongest on the climb - O'Brien, Speers, Doherty, Creighton and Lenehan. However, Doherty then lost her place up front due to a puncture, with the other four riders staying together all the way to the line, working to ensure no chasers came back to them.
There was some unfortunate drama late in the race when Lenehan crashed in the final sprint and needed medical treatment from paramedics on site. Lenehan was leading the four-rider group in the final kilometre, though Creighton then opened the sprint. O'Brien picked her line to the right of Creighton - on a stretch of smoother road surface - to take the victory.
As she galloped for the line, Lenehan came down hard, with O'Brien winning from Speers and Creighton; a quality final podium to conclude a race marked by lots of aggressive racing though the field was small today.
- For race results, please follow this link
