Irish road and track international Mia Griffin has enjoyed a strong start to her World Tour career at the Santos Tour Down Under, where the 24-year-old became the first Irish women to compete for a team in the top tier of the women's peloton.
Griffin told stickybottle she enjoyed the three-stage race and was now immediately looking forward to more road race action in Australia.
"It was a good start to the season so early on," she said. "We worked well as a team and we had Claire Steels, who is a very good climber. So I worked to place her well going into the climbs."
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She was now set to compete at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday week, January 28th, on what is her first trip for racing with new team Israel Premier Tech Roland. Kilkenny's Griffin took her best result at Santos Tour Down Under on he opening stage, when she and team mate Steels were in the first group of 30 riders credited with the same time as stage winner Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health).
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Griffin took 27th place at the end of the 110.4km stage into Aldinga, on a day when the field was split over 6½ minutes. The second stage took the riders 90km to Uraidla, with a late climb that broke up the field. A group of 16 arrived at the finish to fight it out for the stage victory, taken by Alexandra Manly (Team Jayco AlUla). Griffin was in a large group at 7:44, with the Irish rider placing 55th.
On the final stage yesterday, the riders raced 93.2km into Campbelltown, with another late climb spicing up the action. Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) and Amanda Spratt (Trek-Segafredo) pulled clear of a chasing group of eight, with Brown claiming the stage from Spratt and also winning the overall.
The chasing group was just 13 seconds back, with the sprint for 3rd won by Georgia Williams (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB). Griffin was in a 12-rider group at 2:03, placing 34th on a day when the field was scatted into groups covered by over 11 minutes. The Irish women finished 42nd overall, of 77 starters.
