Danish rider Olympia Norrid-Mortensen secured overall victory in Rás na mBan this afternoon, clinging on to a one second advantage over Noémie Garnier of France in the sixth and final stage in Kilkenny City.
21-year-old Norrid-Mortensen dramatically won this morning’s stage five time trial to overturn a four second deficit to Garnier and claim the magenta jersey.
The Dane, riding for Torelli, maintained the slenderest of margins in the stage six criterium, with Garnier finishing just off the podium in fourth to narrowly miss out on the bonus seconds available to the top three finishers, which would have been enough to reclaim the overall lead.
In a repeat of last year’s stage six victory, Garnier’s Vendée Féminine RVC teammate Océane Goergen powered up the final drag to win the final stage, leading home Team Ireland’s Emma Jeffers in second and Smurfit Westrock’s Amelia Cebak in third.
The now traditional criterium finale delivered the usual action-filled hour of racing, with Cycling Ireland Points Classification leader Aoife O’Brien (Team Ireland) establishing an early breakaway with Team Denmark’s Christina Bragh Lorenzen. The pair spent much of the race out front, opening up a maximum gap of 29 seconds on the peloton, with Vendée Féminine RVC leading the chase behind for leaders Garnier and Goergen.
O’Brien’s second place at the intermediate sprint at half way made her points title mathematically secure and she and Lorenzen were finally reeled in with just five laps of the 2.1-kilometre circuit remaining. The main bunch then prepared to contest the sprint finish although there were several unsuccessful attacks in the closing laps.
Goergen rewarded the work of her teammates by dominating the sprint, crossing the line in front of Kilkenny Castle with clear daylight to the following Jeffers and Cebak.
Garnier’s fourth place was just shy of the podium and the bonus seconds that would have overturned the deficit to Norrid-Mortensen, who herself finished close behind in sixth to secure the magenta jersey.
Claiming the Rás na mBan Overall Classification demonstrates the progression made by the Dane, building on last year’s victory in the Sport Ireland Best Young Rider standings, a classification she still qualified for and won this year.
Speaking after the stage, Norrid-Mortensen said “I’m very, very happy! I was so nervous for today’s stage [six], but it played out well in my favour.
“I’m just speechless, I don’t really know what to say, this is what I was dreaming of for this race, and I just want to say thank you to my teammates.”
A breakthrough Rás na mBan for stage two winner Aoife O’Brien earns her the Cycling Ireland Points jersey after consistently scoring points throughout the week, while Garnier’s disappointment at missing out on overall victory may be somewhat tempered by a dominant victory in the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains classification.
18-year-old Aliyah Rafferty (Cycling Ulster) showed more than a glimpse of her potential by taking the Kilkenny County Council Best Irish Rider classification, as well as fourth overall on the general classification, just behind stage three winner Silje Weitze Antvorskov (Team Friis).
Team Ireland ended the week as the Best Team Overall, while Cycling Ulster claimed the Best Irish Team prize.
