Lara Gillespie will have to wait a while before debuting her 2023 national road race champion's jersey in the pro peloton in Europe, but the 22-year-old said she was very much looking forward to taking on the champion's role in the year ahead.
At the end of today's title decider, Gillespie (UAE Development) pulled clear with Megan Armitage (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team), who made much of the running today with stinging attacks.
And while there were caught by a group of four just before the finish, Gillespie wheeled out her big finish to emerged winner by a significant margin in the sprint. It was her second national elite road race title after first winning, as a 19-year-old, in 2020.
While Armitage was especially strong today, and sought to get clear on the various inclines around the course, Gillespie was too strong and managed to move with her. Meanwhile, others who remained in contention for medals also remained very determined, repeatedly getting back to the front of the race when the best riders got clear for periods.
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In the end, it was a six-rider group that went to the line to fight for the medals, with Gillespie by far the fastest. She finished several lengths ahead of silver medal winner, Caoimhe O'Brien (Belco Van Eyck), with Armitage taking 3rd.
Last year’s winner, Alice Sharpe (Israel Premier Tech Roland) was 4th with Imogen Cotter (Fenix-Deceuninck Development) 5th and Linda Kelly (Spin the Bean p/b Coffee) 6th. There was then a 19-second gap back to the next woman on the road, Fiona Mangan (Soltec Team), in 7th place.
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While Gillespie and O’Brien told gold and silver in both the elite and U23 title races, former junior champion Aoife O’Brien (Spellman Dublin Port) won the U23 bronze.
"I was so hard and I'm so happy to wear the jersey (in the year ahead), it means a lot," Gillespie said, adding she felt she had beaten riders of considerable ability at the end of today's 122km race in Co Tyrone.
"Really the top 10 girls are all super, super strong internationally and nationally so on every hill really there was an attack by Megan (Armitage) or Imogen (Cotter). Megan was really, really strong today and I knew that she had the most punch out of everyone.
"So I really tried to stay on her wheel and covered her attacks. I couldn't necessarily follow through with the attacks but I was able to be there all the time.
"It kept splitting and coming back, splitting and coming back. I was always there at the front so I knew I was strong and then it came down to a sprint."
Gillespie said the number of very strong women in the race show the "programme" for Irish riders was "getting stronger", adding there was a "very positive atmosphere around Irish cycling at the moment" which was "nice to be a part of".
While she was really looking forward to racing on the roads of Europe, with her team UAE Development, as Irish champion, she said her focus now would be on the track. She was set to ride the U23 Europeans and the elite Worlds and then would look to road racing once more.
