Megan Armitage’s Olympics | “It was the best I’ve ever felt in a race”

Megan Armitage was putting in a storming ride in the road race at the Paris Olympics until American Chloe Dygert crashed in front of her at a crucial time, with the Irish woman never seeing the front group again.

That racing incident, in which Armitage had to unclip and stop – and was then blocked more than she should have been as Dygert got up and back on her bike. To that point, Armitage had been on the attack several times and was holing her place at the front as the first passage, of three, of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre climb.

“I never expected to be here. I could almost hear my family calling my name every time on the circuit, there were so many Irish there,” said Armitage, who finished 35th – only the second Irish woman to ride an Olympic road race and the first to finish.

Ultimately, though she said she never expected to be at an Olympics and found it an incredible experience, she was left to rue what might have been.

“I was well positioned going into the circuits but, just as I entered the first climb there was a crash, and I got stuck behind it,” Armitage said of the incident with 48km to go.

“I needed to be quicker to get back up to the front group then, but the group I was in had teammates in the break at that point and weren’t co-operating. In the final 2km I went with another girl and still felt really good.

“I’m happy with how I approached the race, just disappointed with the result. It was an incredible experience.

“I had bad luck, being behind the crash and not in front of it. These things happen, but before that, I rode a really good race. It’s the best I’ve ever felt in a race, just not the result I hoped for.”