Lara Gillespie, the Irish road race champion destined for the track events at the Paris Olympics, today begins a new multi-year World Tour contract that will run until the end of 2026.
The 23-year-old, who has already scored four wins on the road this year, has been competing this year and last as UAE Development Team rider. She has also lined out at times for UAE Team ADQ and it is for that World Tour team she has now signed.
The move, which is not unexpected, is a massive step forward for Gillespie, who has looked destined for major success ever since winning a medal for Ireland in the TT at the Youth Olympics as an U16 rider.
She has now moved herself into a position, through her performances, in a team at the top of the sport which rides the Grand Tours, including Tour de France Femmes, which an Irish woman has yet to compete in.
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From today - Sunday, June 9th - she is officially a World Tour rider with UAE Team ADQ and will remain with the squad until at least the end of 2026, when she will be aged 25 years and into the prime seasons of his career.
Gillespie, who was elite national cyclocross champion as an U16 rider, has excelled on the track for Ireland. She won multiple European titles at junior and U23 level and has become a key member of the elite team pursuit line-up that has qualified for the Paris Games.
In April, just after switching from track to road, she won two stages and the overall at Giro Mediterraneo Rosa (2.2), while also taking 2nd in two other stages. She may have also won the last stage but for a crash in the final.
Last month she won Antwerp Port Epic Ladies (1.1) from the select group, after an epic day out that included multiple cobbled sectors; underlining her versatility and her form.
Today she will line out for the first time as a fully-fledged World Tour rider as she is down to start the Spar Flanders Diamond Tour (1.1), a 136.6km one-day race starting and finishing in Nijlen, Belgium.
