Gorey 3 Day 

Can a 3 day stage race within a race with 18 riders be interesting? Absolutely yes!

The maths doesn't lie and with the women's group almost certain to be caught before the end of each stage this has an effect on how the main contenders ride. It is only on hillier sections that some riders lose contact while the stronger riders seem content to ride steady and get a reasonable amount of the stage done before the front end of the men's race catches them. On stage one this catch is made on Lap 3 of 4 and most of the contenders are comfortable at the slightly increased pace on the relatively flat stage and it is only at the uphill finish that any time is won or lost with Caoimhe O’Brien gaining a 3 second advantage and further small gaps down through the group. 

Day 2 started with a significant climb early which cut the lead group down to a small group with Linda Kelly, Emma Jeffers, Caoimhe O’Brien, Aoife O’Brien, Orla Walsh and Aine Doherty going into the last 15km with the front of the race. It was with approximately 7km to go that the difference was made and the race essentially won on a short 1km drag with a 3% gradient where Linda Kelly emerged with the group while the others all lost contact. A short downhill into successive left and right turns stringing out the bunch before the drag made positioning key with attacks coming off the front keeping the pace very high. Kelly gave a demonstration of how to ride this format of race crossing the line in the top 20 on the day and nearly 50 seconds clear of the others. 

The stage 3 TT had left Kelly and Caoimhe O’Brien clear of a trio of Aoife O’Brien, Walsh and Jeffers who were covered by 4 seconds. Stage 4 went to a similar pattern to day 1 with the group riding steadily for the first 50 Km with some obviously working more that others I was surprised it took so long for anyone to make a real point of it when Aoife O’Brien could be seen having a fairly robust conversation with Walsh about sharing the load. Really good to see someone take charge like that, especially as Walsh was only 2 seconds behind on GC. Of course Walsh’s only slim chance of getting on the podium was for the group to be caught earlier and be the one to take advantage of any gaps that might open in a bigger bunch, as Kelly had the day before, so she had no reason to help with any pacing. As it was the group that did catch them was small, well clear of the peloton and riding very steady and there was no real action until the last few kilometres where Aoife O’Brien was a very impressive 5th across the line and all the main GC positions remained unchanged. 

Well done to the race organisers with nicely planned routes. The format seems to work well to maximise the racing experience for as many in the women's field as possible and the time gaps at the start,15 minutes on the longer stages and10 on the shorter, seem well thought out. Great experience following the race and look forward to doing it again some day.