Lara Gillespie on her way to the elite gold medal at the National Road Championships, leading eventual U23 gold medal winner Emma Jeffers (Photo by Caroline Kerley, homepage photo by Toby Watson)
After collecting her third senior Irish road race title - just 48 hours after her first TT crown - Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) will get back to business immediately in Belgium this weekend, followed by bigger goals in the weeks ahead.
It is a mark of her new standing in the sport that a number of spectators - with nobody connected to them racing the Nationals last weekend - travelled to Mayo, with their young children, just to see her racing on home roads for the first time in two years.
Gillespie's preparation for the recent Giro meant she had to skip the National Criterium Championships in Dublin last month. And, last year, crash injuries ruled out of the road Nationals.
The trip back home, from her base in Germany, was productive, and a big change from the norm, she told stickybottle.
Advertisement
"It's not the normal feeling, now that I'm used to riding in the big peloton, with team mates," she said.
"And Nationals is very much 1 V 1. So, it feels kinda personal. If you're closing somebody down, you're closing it for yourself.
"I think I raced it better than I've raced it in the past. I was a bit more calm, and a bit more reassured that I had good legs.
“I knew that if someone went, I wasn't always going to jump on it, I could probably attack after a while and bridge across to them."
Gillespie said she knew Griffin and Jeffers would ve strong in the sprint, but she was confident and hoped for the best (Photo: Caroline Kerley)
She split the peloton over on a false flat section over the top of the big climb on the opening large 50km loop in Cong; the crosswind there helping to inflict maximum damage when she squeezed the pedals.
Related News
And once the breakaway went clear at that point, her next phase of pressure was in the final. She snuffed out some attacks, before winning the sprint for the gold medal.
Gillespie said that, coming into the sprint, she knew defending champion Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL), and U23 defending champion Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco Women's Continental Team), were very fast.
But she focused on her own effort and felt confident, though she was forced to close down late attacker Marine Lenehan (Lidl Trek).
Gillespie explained she was able to get to Lenehan and then gather herself to go again immediately, in the final sprint, saying she was "never gassed".
“Marine attacked initially and we caught her. And then we were all sort of looking at each other and ended up almost in a standing start before we got going for the line," she said.
"I know how strong Mia is from racing and training with her on the track. And I’ve seen how strong Emma is sprinting on the road, so I just had to hope for the best.”
Gillespie said she was delighted to reclaim the national champion's jersey - which she won in 2020 and 2023. She was also really pleased to be back racing on home roads for the first time in two years.
As a sprinter, the Wicklow woman is always well-supported by her UAE Team ADQ squad, but in Saturday's road race she had no team mates.
That novel experience, racing alone, "definitely makes me really appreciate my team mates a bit more" as well the contribution all the staff on her team make to her racing effort.
"My mum, Martin (O'Loughlin) and Alan (Carroll, mechanic) had to do all of the work of a team this weekend. And you just have to be more on it, and not take any risks," she said.
This Sunday she rides Argenta Classic-Deurne (1.1) in Belgium, which will be her first appearance in the 2026 champion's jersey. That will be followed by Tour de Pologne, in just over three weeks, and Tour of Britain in late August.
“I’m really excited to be able to wear the national champions jersey in the peloton, it really means a lot to be able to wear that for the next year,” she said, adding Britain was a big goal for her.
