Bike changes, chases and camaraderie - all part of life in the Rás na mBan
The first stage of the Rás na mBan international women’s road race was held on Wednesday. Trevor Spillane jumped into a team car to follow the action as it unfolded on Kilkenny’s roads.
“Welcome to road racing,” team manager Keith Colville said with a grin as he hops into the team car and gets ready to follow the cavalcade for the opening stage of this year’s Rás na mBan.
While the race is just about to start, the Tipp native, who is looking after the Primeau Vélo Groupe Abadie team from Canada has already completed a day’s work - much of it coming in the last half hour, as late bike issues for all three members of his team have tested his energy levels. Two of the team had problems with equipment as the countdown to Wednesday’s opening stage was underway. Then, to complete the prerace panic, another member was involved in a crash in the warm-up, sparking a search for a change of bike.
Not a problem if you’re in the Tour de France Femmes - but this is Ireland. After a frenetic few minutes, help in the shape of a new bike from Team DAS Hutchinson Brother - the team of Kilkenny Olympian Mia Griffin - saved the day.
It was an incredible gesture, probably not one you’d see in many other sports, but cycling is more like a family, with teams ready to help at a moment’s notice.
Even the weather played ball for the day, with the overcast skies clearing before the flag dropped on the 74km stage. Although not everyone agreed.
“It’s cold over here,” said Anabelle Thomas from Primeau Vélo Groupe Abadie as she pulled on a jacket while waiting for the start. Her first time in Ireland, she was getting to grips with the temperature, having just come from France.
“Our team has a base in France so we’ve spent most of the summer there,” she explained. “Over there the temperatures have been around 35℃ so Ireland has been a big change!”
Thomas and her team-mates, Jazmine Lavergne and Valerie Laroche, weren’t cold when the race left the neutralised start at the Hoban Hotel and made their way to Foulkstown for the start of stage one, which took the field from Kilkenny to Callan.
Once racing began they took to the Irish roads with gusto, with Thomas was one of two riders (Irish under-23 champion Caoimhe O’Brien was the other) who made the first breakaway inside 20km. By that stage the convoy of riders, team cars and race officials had passed through Knocktopher and were heading for Kilmoganny, the stage of the day’s climb where points for the Queen of the Mountain jersey were up for grabs.
By that time the race had its first rider drop out. UCD’s Clodagh Ní Ghallchóir was forced to abandon the event, the Rás claiming its first victim. It was around that stage a five-rider group went on the breakaway. By the midway point of the stage they were 48 seconds clear of a fast-moving peloton. How fast? The riders would complete the first 40km in an hour!
All along the race radio crackled, with the race director and lead cars providing updates from ahead. After the break went, a car followed to keep the convoy of cars in touch with their teams.
Then, the update no team wants to hear came through the airwaves - rider 202 in need of service. There was a problem for Lavergne, one of the three Primeau Vélo Groupe Abadie riders. It was almost a race within the race as Colville manoeuvred the team car along the tight roads in a bid to reach his rider. By the time he got there the DAS Hutchinson-Brother car - those guys again - had intervened and changed a wheel on the bike they had loaned to Lavergne before the race started.
A quick beep of the horn sounded by way of thanks, before the real challenge - to get Lavergne back into the chasing group - began. The task was made all the harder as the comeback was played out on the road to Coolagh church and along the New Line but, encouraged along by her team manager, the young Canadian found the power to rejoin the field in the closing kilometres.
They’re a hardy bunch, these cyclists…
By that stage the support cars had been ushered off the course to a parking zone in Callan’s Fair Green. While the teams may have missed the closing stages, the race radio kept everyone posted about the finish, with Mia Griffin making it successive stage one wins as she crossed the line clear of the chasing pack.
There was little time to take in the result, as team managers sprinted up the Clonmel Road to find their riders, who had gathered en masse after the finish line, and check on their welfare. Drinks and warm clothing were dispensed, before the big task of getting everyone back to their hotels began - but not before the riders went off on another cycle, spinning the legs out after a tough day on the road, the recovery beginning again before focusing on the next day’s stage.
They sure do make them tough!
The 2024 Rás na mBan continues until Sunday, when Kilkenny City will host the last two stages - an individual time trial from 9am before the Kilkenny City Circuit Race starts at 1.30pm, offering high-octane city centre racing. The Parade is the place to be to watch all the action!