The final day of Rás na mBan 2023 is upon us with two stages left for the riders to battle through.
Kilkenny City hosts both stages, with the morning’s time trial stage a short affair requiring a powerful effort and a sharp eye for detail to ensure the most efficient lines through the corners to minimise unnecessary time loss and enter Stage 6, the Criterium Circuit Race, with every possible advantage.
The Time Trial
The Time Trial (TT) course may only be 2.5km in length, but it has previously been a significant stage in deciding the overall winner for Rás na mBan.
Last year’s overall winner Manon de Boer sealed her overall GC victory by winning the stage 5 TT around Kilkenny Castle by just 2.38 seconds ahead of Team Noord Holland’s Renée van Hout. 2023 also saw Kate Richardson seal her overall GC win with a .39 of second victory in the TT.
The 3:30-4minute effort will require maximum effort alongside total focus, with a number of tight turns along the route and a narrow path section included. Riders will be hoping the course remains dry to keep conditions on a level playing field as the result will likely come down to the wire for those at the top of the general classification table.
Mia Griffin remains in magenta heading into stage 5. She maintains an 11 second advantage on teammate Caoimhe O’Brien, with 12 seconds to 3rd place Manon de Boer, and only 14 seconds to Monarch Racing’s Heidi Franz. 2023’s TT over the same course saw de Boer finish 6.59 seconds ahead of O’Brien on the stage, and 7.99 seconds ahead of Griffin.
There are no time bonuses on offer for the stage win on stage 5, so the GC battle heading into stage 6 may be even tighter than at present.
The Criterium
The Criterium will get underway shortly afterward. Starting on the Parade outside the Castle gates, the route goes clockwise along Castle Road, Nuncio Road, Waterford Road, Patrick St and back past the castle gates. Stage 6 will be approximately an hour and fifteen minutes of fast high octane city centre racing to finally decide the champion of Rás na mBan 2024.
Last year the crowds were treated to an exhilarating hour of racing around the Kilkenny circuit, with a number of riders coming down throughout the race and a large bunch of 60 riders battling for the final stage win.
Ireland’s Mia Griffin has taken two stage wins out of four this week, with Caoimhe O’Brien taking her first stage win this year. O’Brien was 2nd on the final stage last year, and whether it’s Griffin or O’Brien we expect the DAS Hutchinson Brother UK team to have a rider well positioned coming into the final moments of the race.
Both Marine Lenehan and Ellen McDermott are former Irish National Criterium Champions and are certainly riders to watch for the stage having both been on a Rás na mBan stage podium before, but never the top spot.
With bonus seconds on offer at the intermediate sprint, as well as the top three riders on the stage, the final day of Rás na mBan is lined up to be a whirlwind day of racing in the battle for the magenta jersey.
For the full race preview, including teams and riders to watch, go to: https://rasnamban.com/ras-na-mban-2024-race-preview/
You can view the full route, stage by stage, here: https://rasnamban.com/2024-route/
Results can be found here: https://rasnamban.com/2024-results-live-feed/
Where to Watch:
The final day of racing features a double helping of racing beginning and ending in front of the world famous Kilkenny Castle. The fastest two stages of the week are also the shortest. A flat out 2.5km solo race against the watch in the morning followed the hugely popular hour and a quarter of high speed racing around Kilkenny’s medieval city, among Ireland’s most popular visitor destinations after which the champion of Rás na mBan 2024 will be crowned.
