Mia Griffin has rounded out her 2026 season, her first with Picnic PostNL, with two very strong results in the Netherlands (Photo: Tommaso Pelagalli-Sprint Cycling Agency-Cor Vos)
Mia Griffin’s fellow track Olympian, Lara Gillespie, may have been off winning a world track title in China today, but the Picnic PostNL rider was also taking care of business in the Netherlands.
The Kilkenny woman, coming to the end of her first season of three with her World Tour team, was in the mix at the pointy end of Eneco Tour Women (2.1) in Arnhem.
As a three-rider breakaway was just about dangling off the front of the bunch in the final kilometre, Griffin was in a battle for position in the chasing group, readying herself for the sprint.
She ended the day in 4th place, four days after finishing 5th on the opening road stage, as today the front of her group ran out of road to catch the trio up front.
The leaders included Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Premier Tech), Scarlett Souren (VolkerWessels Cycling Team) and 20-year-old Australian Talia Appleton (Liv AlUla Jayco).
As the sprint up front opened, Griffin’s group was just a few lengths off the back of the leading trio.
Appleton, clearly on her last legs, was caught and passed by the fastest three riders in that chasing group sprint and so missed out on a place in the top three.
However, Truyen and Souren survived to take 1st and 2nd, with the winner’s team mate, Tour de France stage winner Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech), winning the gallop just behind them for 3rd.
And then came Griffin, the Irish rider 2nd in the reduced bunch sprint and taking 4th place on the day. That result, couple with her 5th place finish into Ede on Wednesday, represented a strong finish to her campaign.
The results also follow on from her 5th and 8th placings last month in A Travers les Hauts de France (1.1) and La Choralis Fourmies Féminine (1.Pro), both in France, demonstrating her strong form towards the back end of the season.
Overall victory in the Netherlands went to Dutch road race champion, Lieke Nooijen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike). She won the prologue last Tuesday and the stage 2 TT on Thursday before placing 2nd and 3rd on stages 3 and 4.
She claimed the title by 32 seconds from Femke Markus (Team SD Worx-Protime), while Letizia Borghesi (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) rounded out the podium in the final GC, at 37 seconds, after winning stage 4, on Col du Vam.
Ireland’s Griffin was 35th overall, at 15:03, with her sprinting clearly in the best shape of the season in recent weeks.
🚴🇳🇱 | Charlotte Kool juicht, maar wint niet. Het peloton komt te laat. Gelukkig voor Kool zat ploeggenote Marthe Truyen vooraan en is zij als eerste binnen! 🙌🇧🇪 #EnecoTour
Koers 👀 HBO Max https://t.co/ChKIbp3RlF
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) October 18, 2026
Stage 5 | Arnhem-Arnhem (70.1km)
