By Liam Coates
The day after her prestigious win at the Des Hanlon Memorial, placing her at number one in the nascent National Road Series (NRS), Caoimhe O’Brien was back out on her bike and training for another four hours.
“It’s all these sessions that make those wins happen,” she said, speaking to stickybottle afterwards. The Torelli-Cayman Islands-Scimitar rider said even though the race was “tough,” she loved the course and felt “on a high” to win it for the second year in a row.
While delighted to take another big win on the home scene, and hoping for more on Irish roads, her team is now a UCI Continental outfit and the Westmeath teenager already has her eyes firmly fixed on racing abroad later this year.
Last Sunday’s race, the first in Cycling Ireland’s National Road Series, was decided in a group sprint won by O’Brien, with Mia Griffin of IBCT and young McConvey Cycles rider Erin Creighton following closely in second and third.
“Everyone was really up for it. There was no sitting around waiting and saying ‘who’s gonna go next?’ which was really nice to see,” the winner said of what was an aggressive contest.
O’Brien went on the attack on the descent of the final hill and opened a gap. “I was away by myself for around 15 or 16 kilometres, and I was thinking ‘I’m gonna win it!’” But her confidence got the better of her as the group caught up with about 4km to go.
After a brief recovery period at the back of the group, a surprise breakaway from Griffin sharpened her mind and forced her to get defensive.
“She’s got a really good sprint,” O’Brien said, admitting
she was a little intimidated when Griffin surged ahead, but “the good kind of
intimidated.”
“I set new 10, 20 and 60-minute powers just from that race which says a lot,” she said of having to dig deep to win.
O’Brien has been working on her sprinting with coach Thomas Fallon, so her training and past experience of Sunday’s course gave her the confidence approaching the finish.
The superlative start to the NRS kicks off what is sure to be a fiercely competitive season of women’s racing, with the Westmeath rider sure to be to the fore.
Her aim is to go to as many of the NRS events as her now-Continental schedule allows.
“I came third in (the NRS) last year and I only did three of the races, so it would look really good on my CV for Irish selection and things like that, so if I’m around I’ll definitely do more of them.”
With her Continental trade team season, involving racing abroad, now on the horizon, she’s filled with excitement.
“Me and Tom are working really well together and I’m hoping this is the start of it. With Covid and everything the last few years have been a blur so I really want to try and develop as much as I can this year.”
Her main plans are to compete in France, Belgium and Britain, with her first race as a Continental rider kicking off on April 18th in Belgium at Ronde de Mouscron (1.1). She’s also considering moving over there, to better focus on her training and racing goals.
Hopefully she can make a mark on the European stage with the same can-do attitude that has been delivering her success on the home front.
“Sometimes you just need to say to yourself ‘I’m gonna win
it,’ and then that’s what makes it happen.”
