Greta Lawless has written her own chapter of Irish cycling history today when she became the first Irish rider ever to take a top 10 at UCI Cyclocross World Cup.
She did it on home turf, at the Dublin round, in a race alongside team mate Aoife O’Donovan, the young Waterford rider who has blasted her way into the Irish national team set-up straight out of the juniors.
Lawless was clearly very determined to make it inside the top 10 today, even when suffering hard at the end. As she rounded the final corner on the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbottstown it looked like Italian rider Giorgia Pellizotti – 3rd in the Europeans last month – might just nudge her out of the top 10.
However, in a long two-up sprint down the finishing straight it was Lawless who bested her rival to secure 10th place; that result coming just over an hour after Conor Murphy took 14th in the junior men’s race.
Lawless and O’Donovan had a lot to do at the start, given their gridding position, but they managed to stay out of trouble and continued to push forward.
Lawless clearly took a conservative approach to the start of the race as she was well outside the top 10 for a long time. However, as the laps ticked down, she picked her way through the field up to the towards the top 10.
O’Donovan is a year behind Lawless in her development and was making her Team Ireland debut today in Dublin.
However, though going from club racing to the international team at a World Cup is a massive step up, she kept at it today to finish 28th, banking invaluable experience in the process.
Lidia Cusack of the United States took a brilliant win, crossing the line solo some nine seconds up on France’s Lison Desprez with Canada’s Rafaelle Carrier in 3rd at 18 seconds.
More to come.