Lara Gillespie, the Irish road race champion, made her mark on her debut as a World Tour rider in Belgium on Sunday, where she stepped into a race deep with quality.
There were multiple World Tour teams in the field at Spar Flanders Diamond Tour (1.1), something Gillespie has not always faced this year as she mostly competed for UAE Development.
However, the Irish rider not only stepped up to the mark, but had a key influence on the outcome of the race, where Aoife O'Brien (Cyclingteam Belco-Van Eyck) and Megan Armitage (EF Education-Cannondale) also lined out.
By the finish, after 136.6km of racing in Nijlen - 10 laps of a circuit with three cobbled sectors each time - the front group was down to just 25 riders, with the key split going clear after 60km.
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Gillespie was present in that front group, which quickly powered away, with two of her UAE Team ADQ team mates also there.
One of those was Italian sprinter Chiara Consonni, the 24-year-old who had already claimed a couple of victories before Sunday's outing. And with the help of Gillespie, and Italian teenager Federica Venturelli, in the final, Consonni sprinted to victory.
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Gillespie crossed the line, having helped her team mate to win, with her two arms aloft in celebration, in 14th place. Venturelli was the third UAE Team ADQ rider home, at the back of the front group, in 21st.
Consonni claimed the win from Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) and Kathrin Schweinberger (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team) 3rd. Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) was 4th with Ilaria Sanguineti (Lidl-Trek) 5th and Nina Kessler (EF Education-Cannondale) 6th.
Ireland's O'Brien and Armitage finished in 59th and 79th, both in the 70-strong peloton, which finished 3:18 down on the leading group.
Chiara Consonni (??/UAE Development Team) wins the SPAR Flanders Diamond Tour in Nijlen. ?for Anniina Atholsalo (??/Uno X) and ?for Kathrin Schweinberger (??/Ceratizit) #SPARFlandersDiamondTour pic.twitter.com/G4MEEM9a51
— Tom Ink (@TDelencre) June 9, 2024
