Rás na mBan travels to Laois for stage two

Riders in Rás na mBan will roll out from O'Moore Park in Portlaoise at 11:15am on Thursday, September 5 for a ceremonial start from the Laois County Council Complex before racing gets underway from 11:30am.

Ireland’s Mia Griffin enters the stage in the Magenta Leader’s jersey, closely followed by her DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK teammate Robyn Clay who will ride tomorrow’s stage in the Sport Ireland Best Young Rider jersey. 

The Cycling Ireland Points Classification is currently led by DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK’s Mia Griffin and the jersey will be worn by her teammate Caoimhe O’Brien for stage two. The Kilkenny County Council Best Irish Rider jersey also belongs to Griffin after stage one and will be worn by Dan Morrissey Primor by Pissei’s Marine Lenehan for tomorrow’s stage. Mari Porton of Tofauti Everyone Active will ride tomorrow in the stage winners jersey.

The current general classification (GC) standings sees DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK dominating the the top of the table, with four riders in the top 5, and their fifth, Lucy Lee, currently holding IVCA W200 the Queen of the Mountain closely followed by last year’s overall winner and QOM winner Manon de Boer. 

The stage begins with a fast opening section from Stradbally to Emo, and then on to Mountmellick, before hitting the main climb of the day. Coming from Clonaslee the riders will have to get over a 7km Category 1 climb, known as ‘The Cut’ that sports an average gradient of 4.4% and a leg-sapping maximum gradient of 8.3%. 

After a fast descent the riders will pass through the finish line at Mountrath before looping through Abbyleix and Ballacolla and finishing back in Mountrath. The stage is a chance for a breakaway group of climbers to take some time on the rest of the field and try to hold it to the line.

The intermediate sprint at 39 km will also offer bonus seconds to the fastest three riders to cross the line. The bonus seconds have so far allowed the top five riders to distinguish themselves on GC, however with 83 riders all within 28 seconds, it’s still anyone’s race. 

The weather forecast is for dry conditions though riders may have to deal with moderate crosswinds throughout the race. Riders are expected to complete the 104.4km route and start arriving in Mountrath from 14:15.

Depending on the speed of the peloton, riders are predicted to reach the finish between 13:59 and 14:28.