While Irish cycling fans will be looking to see if Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) can add to Ireland's tally of Grand Tour stage wins at the Giro d'Italia, they are now hopes that Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) can beat him to it.
The Irish woman, who has won a European track title already this year and hoovered up a series of top results on the road, has been confirmed for her Grand Tour debut at Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour (2.WWT).
The seven stage-race gets underway on Barcelona on Sunday and there will be opportunities for Gillespie to make a real impression - including potentially take a stage win - by the time the race reaches its conclusion atop Alto de Cotobello on Saturday week.
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It is the first time Gillespie will ride a Grand Tour, with her debut coming in her first full season as a World Tour rider, and amid what is her first prolonged run of top tier European road racing.
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She opened her 2025 campaign on the road with a very aggressive performance at UAE Tour, especially on stage 2 when she was in the small breakaway the day the crosswinds ripped apart the field.
Since then, Gillespie has taken podium results in Fenix Omloop van het Hageland (1.1), Le Samyn des Dames (1.1) and Danilith Nokere Koerse WE (1.Pro). She has also taken 5th and 6th in one-day World Tour races Classic Brugge-De Panne WE (1.WWT) and Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields WE (1.WWT) as well as finishing top 20 on debut last month at Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift (1.WWT).
And those results prove Gillespie is a stage win contender - either in a bunch sprint or from a breakaway - in the upcoming Vuelta.
She will likely get her first chance to make an impression on Monday, when the first road stage takes the riders 99km to Sant Boi de Llobregat, with 1,400 metres of elevation gain through the day.
More to come.
