Mia Griffin, an Olympic team pursuit cyclist, aced the first stage of Rás na mBan on Wednesday, demonstrating her athletic prowess on the road. Griffin, from Kilkenny, led a clean sweep by the Das Hutchinson Brother UK team, pushing ahead of her British teammate, Robyn Clay, and Ireland’s Caoimhe O’Brien. This triumph reflects her similar successes on the first and fourth stages last year and earned her the premiere leader’s jersey of the race.
The 25-year-old Griffin was elated to race in her hometown of Kilkenny, saying, “I was determined to speed through the last corner and power-sprint to the finish line.” The challenging 75km race stretched from Kilkenny to Callan. Throughout the race, the pack split at the difficult ascent of Curragawn, with Griffin’s teammate Frankie Hall, fellow Briton Katy Hill (Dan Morrissey-Primor by Pissei), and Danish cyclist Freederikke Aafeldt (Team Aalborg) managing to break free.
Despite temporarily establishing a 55-second lead, the breakaway trio was reined in with just 3km to go, at which point Griffin’s team came forward to prime her for the final sprint. “For a while, it looked like Frankie might keep her lead, and we were trying to manage the pace in the bunch,” said Griffin. “Eventually, though, we rejoined and flawlessly coordinated our efforts as a team. We hit the podium with a one, two, three finish, which is simply fantastic.”
Griffin’s victory earned her a time bonus, placing her four seconds ahead of Clay in the overall race rankings, with O’Brien trailing by six seconds. The international competition continues on Thursday with a 105km leg beginning in Portlaoise, traversing the Slieve Bloom mountains, and concluding in Mountrath. The race will conclude on Sunday.