Dillon Wraps it Up - Sneem Hotel Ras na mBan, Ireland

Dillon Wraps it Up

Team Ireland’s Olivia Dillon wrapped up victory in the Sneem Hotel Ras na mBan with a third place finish in Sunday’s fourth and final stage behind Kirsten Peetoom of the Dutch Moving Ladies squad.

Dillon was always in command throughout the testing 90km ride from Sneem to Waterville and back including two ascents of Coomaciste, adding victory in Ireland’s premier women’s international stage race to her national championship time trial and road race double earlier this year.

The US based Mayo full time professional rider was just prevented from securing a clean sweep of stage wins in the race by a determined drive for the line from Peetoom and Alli Holland of Shred Racing .

Just 17 riders were left in contention for stage honours on the uphill drag to the finish line at Sneem Hotel after a long arduous whittling down process that spread the field out into numerous small groups on the road.

Dillon was ever vigilant for attacks from her nearest challengers Alli Holland and Natalie Creswick of the Shred Racing Rapha Condor team but the determined efforts of the UK squad were not enough to unsettle the race leader.

The Irish squad put the pressure back on their rivals with a series of attacks from Jenny McCauley in the closing stages which the Shred Racing Rapha Condor riders were forced to control.

The end result was a group finish where Peetoom proved strongest, salvaging a top result for the title defending Moving Ladies squad.

Alli Holland’s second place made it three top three finishes for her from the three road stages, while Creswick secured the Queen of the Mountains title as Shred Racing Rapha Condor took the team award.

The County Rider Classification was won by Melanie Spath of the Usher Irish Road Club, the top mountain bike racer taking a fine sixth overall.

Afterwards the race winner reflected on a successful weekend’s racing around the roads of south Kerry.

“It’s been a great weekend and I’d like to say thank you to the Women’s Commission for inviting me and and to my team mates for all their help in defending the jersey through the weekend.

“It was far from straightforward. The Rapha girls did a fantastic job to make the race and they really put it up to us with lots of attacking throughout the weekend but we were able to cover them and it worked out great in the end.

“I’ve enjoyed racing in Ireland and I’d really love to come back to the race next year.”