Kilkenny's Mia Griffin talks unfinished business for Rás na mBan 2024

Two time stage winner in 2023, Kilkenny native Mia Griffin was on hand for the Rás na mBan 2024 route announcement last month, where she gave us some of her thoughts on this year's race.

"The Rás is my favorite race, so I think there's some unfinished business with the Rás, and we haven't got a GC win in a long time. So I think between the team with Alice as well, I think we can aim for that and go out with a bang in the Rás.

[The Rás] means a lot, obviously because it finishes in my home county and it races on all my home roads. So I think because of that, it has a place in my heart. When I started cycling, it was one of the first races that I did. So it was kind of a marker of how I progressed through cycling as well. In fact the first time I came to it, I was barely able to finish and was in tears every day just trying to get through it. And then I could come back a few years later and be not just trying to finish, but trying to contest for stage wins and stuff like that. So I think it definitely is a great race in that regard."

We asked her thoughts on what would it take to win it?

"I think it would take some really, really good teamwork, some good tactics and a lot of heart, and just racing really well as a unit and then putting everything in it, to do things correctly and as a team and yeah, just belief as well."

And coming from the Olympics, it's going to be a slightly different experience.

"Yeah, I think coming from the Olympics, it'll be a lot different just as a race in general, it'll be a lot more chill, I suppose, but in another way, as much as it's more chill, it's still something that'll be a really big goal."