Stage Two Race Report Rás na mBan 2024: O’Brien Powers to Stage 2 Victory in County Laois

Double delight for DAS-Hutchinson Brother UK with second stage win in two days.

Irish rider Caoimhe O’Brien secured an impressive win in today’s second stage of Rás na mBan 2024, narrowly edging ahead of teammate and magenta jersey wearer Mia Griffin in a photo finish in Mountrath.

British rider Abigail Miller of Tofauti Everyone Active rounded out the podium in third place, following a tough stage in County Laois that featured the fearsome first category ascent of ‘The Cut’.

Griffin’s second place ensured she retained her lead at the top of the general classification by virtue of positional countback over the first two stages, with O’Brien tied on time after picking up bonus seconds at both the finish and intermediate sprint.

The days started with riders gathering in Portlaoise for a ceremonial start at the Laois County Council offices, before proceeding to tackle the 104 kilometre long stage, held in dry but cool conditions.

The category one climb of ‘The Cut’ in the Slieve Bloom mountains dominated the stage profile, with few early attempts made to establish a breakaway from a peloton heavily controlled by Team Aalborg Sparekassen Danmark.

Once on the 7.4 kilometre long ascent however, DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK took over at the front of the race, intent on extending Lucy Lee’s margin at the top of the Queen of the Mountains classification. Defending champion Manon de Boer of NWVG-Uplus remained in close attention, with the fierce pace causing numerous riders to get distanced from the head of the race.

By the summit just 23 riders remained at the front, with Lee repeating yesterday’s QOM results by taking the maximum points ahead of De Boer, extending her lead at the top of the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains classification going into stage three.

A fast and technical descent from The Cut followed, with those 23 riders of favourites and classification leaders establishing a gap of over two minutes on the next group on the road.

With 39 kilometres remaining, the lead group entered Mountrath for the start of the finishing circuit, with the first passage over the line doubling up as the location of the day’s intermediate sprint for time bonuses. De Boer crossed the line ahead of sisters Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien, each taking three, two and one bonus seconds respectively.

A cagey final ensued, with no team taking meaningful control of the lead group, allowing the chasers to close the gap to just over one minute.

In the closing kilometres, however, DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK re-enacted yesterday’s finale with QOM leader Lee joining Frankie Hall in setting the pace on the front, leading out Griffin, with O’Brien on her wheel going into the final corner. Both those riders launched their sprints with 200 metres to go, with O’Brien coming off Griffin’s wheel with perfect timing to secure a first Rás na mBan stage victory by the slenderest of margins.

The pair head into tomorrow tied on time at the top of the General Classification, with Griffin wearing the magenta jersey thanks to higher individual placings over the two stages.

The Olympian also retains the lead of the Cycling Ireland Points classification, and the Kilkenny County Council Best Irish Rider classification, with O’Brien taking over the Sport Ireland Best Young Rider jersey.

Tomorrow sees a new stage for Rás na mBan, with riders taking on a 104 kilometre route from Kilkenny to Gorey in County Wexford, featuring two categorised climbs and 1206 metres of elevation gain, the most of any stage of this year’s race.