Caoimhe O'Brien snatches perfectly timed Rás na mBan victory

Irish rider Caoimhe O'Brien secured an impressive win in Thursday's second stage of Rás na mBan, narrowly edging ahead of teammate and magenta jersey wearer Mia Griffin in a photo finish in Mountrath, Co Laois.

British rider Abigail Miller of Tofauti Everyone Active rounded out the podium in third place, following a tough stage that featured the fearsome first-category ascent of 'The Cut’.

Griffin’s second place ensured she retained her lead at the top of the general classification by virtue of positional countback over the first two stages, with O’Brien tied on time after picking up bonus seconds at both the finish and intermediate sprint.

The days started with riders gathering in Portlaoise for a ceremonial start at the Laois County Council offices, before proceeding to tackle the 104km long stage, held in dry but cool conditions.

The category one climb of ‘The Cut’ in the Slieve Bloom mountains dominated the stage profile, with few early attempts made to establish a breakaway from a peloton heavily controlled by Team Aalborg Sparekassen Danmark.

Once on the 7.4km long ascent however, DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK took over at the front of the race, intent on extending Lucy Lee’s margin at the top of the Queen of the Mountains classification. Defending champion Manon de Boer of NWVG-Uplus remained in close attention, with the fierce pace causing numerous riders to get distanced from the head of the race.

By the summit just 23 riders remained at the front, with Lee repeating yesterday’s QOM results by taking the maximum points ahead of De Boer, extending her lead at the top of the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains classification going into stage three.

A fast and technical descent from The Cut followed, with those 23 riders