Lara Gillespie this year cemented her position in road racing, with four UCI-ranked wins and by securing a World Tour contract with UAE Team ADQ. Next year will be about taking the next step; learning all she can about the biggest races while getting closer - and hopefully beating - the biggest names.
After breezing through some very significant milestones this year on the road - not to mention making her Olympic debut and medaling at the track Worlds - Gillespie's next task is to compete for wins against the likes of Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx - Protime) and Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime).
The Wicklow rider told stickybottle she has already proven to herself she can compete against the two big sprinters; sounding confident that her level is now close to that of the biggest stars, and getting closer all the time.
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As a dual road and track rider, she appears to have gained confidence from both her track and road performances about her ability to get among the very best in the world and take results.
Gillespie said her performance at the recent World Championships - winning bronze in the points race - "would probably change my mindset" about big time racing more than the Olympic experience.
"I had a bad week at the Worlds, physically I was not at my best," she explained. "But even when I wasn't at my best I was able to perform, compared to going into the Olympics I was thinking 'on a good day I can be a top five rider, or top three'. But where I want to be in four years at the next Olympics, even on a bad day… I want to be top three."
Asked if the Worlds was therefore the biggest moment of her season, she said she didn't really have a "biggest moment". Instead, she preferred to focus on the "gradual process of improving on that mentality and improving on that belief".
"I've had the belief for a long time I can be up there and it's just about executing it," she said. "I know even in the last year, I feel like a competitor to Kopecky on the track for sure. I don't see myself as any less of a rider than her. So I've just had that belief the whole time and, OK, I think with her experience she makes a lot less mistakes than what I have in the last year.
"But I see myself as a competitor all the time so I wouldn't say it's just because of this (Worlds) result that that's happened. When I did the Simac Tour the week before track Worlds I had that feeling… 'OK, I actually am here'. I was feeling bad on the stage, physically, because I had really bad Covid after the Olympics.
"But even though I wasn't physically feeling the best, when it came to the finish I was able to be there and be really close to people like Wiebes and Kopecky and feeling really strong in that moment. So I thought 'even when I'm feeling really bad, I can be here with them'. There isn't that huge gap to close any more.
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"It was a gradual experience over the whole year on the road and the track. I think if I tried to zoom out and think about when I did my first World Championships on the track, I think I'd be really proud of where I am now. But when I'm in the process and reaching for more, it's hard to think what was the moment when my mentality changes."
The Olympics
Looking back at the Olympics, she also cited a gradual process in recent years that helped up step up onto the biggest stage.
"I wouldn't say it felt daunting," she said of the Games. "I felt very prepared and it was the right time for me and I felt ready to be there. I treated it like any other track race… mentally it wasn't a huge deal.
"But the difference was everyone at home knowing what was going on and being in support of it. That was amazing. So it was a really special experience. It was something that I'd dreamt of for a long time, since I was a kid - not really for cycling, but for any sport, I just always loved the Olympics."
Gillespie said her team was also really on board with her giving the Games "the full shot", especially as she had been part of a team pursuit line-up that faced such a long build-up and qualification process.
When riding the individual races, she said he was "disappointed with my overall result", especially the scratch race, but felt she "didn't back down at any point" and went on to win the tempo race; a significant achievement at a Games.
"It was a great experience, I learnt so much," she said. "I learnt what to do and what not to do. It wasn't that I got nervous and messed up on the day. There are just so many factors and I'm still learning my race craft; how to be that consistent rider.
"Generally I'm either at the front and hammering it or suffering at the back. So when it came to the Worlds, I'd learnt from my mistakes, in a way. But it was a great experience and top 10 at my first Olympics was good, but I had hoped for more."
Gillespie explained while riders stepped up in their form and approach for an Olympics, it was largely the same level as the Europeans or Worlds, adding even riding UCI World Cups was great preparation for going on to compete on the bigger stages.
And having gained so much experience now with the Irish team at all of those types of races, she felt "mentally" she had repeatedly been through the process she needed to undertake for the Olympics.
