Rás na mBan: Team Ireland's Griffin doubles up in Waterford

Team Ireland’s Mia Griffin powered to her second stage win of this year’s Rás na mBan in County Waterford on Saturday afternoon, again demonstrating her sprinting prowess to secure the victory.

The Glenmore native led home Queen of the Mountains jersey wearer Manon de Boer of NWVG-Uplus, with the Dutch rider closely followed by DAS-handsling’s Monica Greenwood.

In the General Classification contest, NWVG-Uplus’s Rixt Hoogland’s fourth place finish yesterday vaulted her back above overnight leader Tiffany Keep of Hutchinson – Brother UK to regain the magenta jersey, having taken the lead in similar fashion after Stage Two.

Rás na mBan’s first visit to County Waterford saw riders greeted by another scorching day, with no better setting than the coastal town of Tramore.

The action started early with the first categorised climb coming after just 11 kilometres of racing. A narrowing of the road on the approach to the Kilmagemogue ascent resulted in a large crash in the middle of the bunch, bringing down over a dozen riders and forcing splits before the road even started rising.

A lead group of around 25 riders escaped the carnage, including all the classification leaders and jersey wearers who will be grateful they were in good position when the road narrowed.

A second group of similar size quickly formed behind in a bid to regain contact, bringing the gap to the leaders down to around 37 seconds.

AWOL rider and Irish National Time Trial Champion Kelly Murphy used the narrow gap to her advantage, instigating a move along with Sian March of Team Boompods and Beth Harley Jepson of Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon, to bridge to the leading group. The trio’s huge effort was justified as the chasing group they escaped from never regained contact with the front of the race.

In the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains classification, Manon de Boer continued her impressive run to lead over the top of the Category 2 ascent of Kilmagemogue. Those nine points put the outcome of that competition out of reach of nearest challenger Linda Kelly, despite the latter scoring maximum points on the final two Category 3 climbs of Rathinure Hill and Annestown.

Mia Griffin (centre) celebrates her stage win with her teammates Caoimhe and Aoife O'Brien Picture: Lorraine O’Sullivan