Ireland's Lara Gillespie gambles to win big at Samyn Ladies

Lara Gillespie has taken a gamble in Belgium today and it has paid off, big time, with the biggest road win of her career (Photo by Rhode Van Elsen-Getty Images)

Lara Gillespie (Team UAE ADQ) has taken the biggest road win of her career at Beobank Samyn Ladies (1.1) in Belgium, upgrading her 3rd place finish of 12 months ago to a huge victory today.

Though the Irish rider has become one of the best sprinters in the sport, in the space of just one season, today she did not leave it to a bunch gallop in to Dour today.

Instead, she got clear in a 10-rider breakaway, that dominated the race and continued to extend its advantage in the final, aided by the fact three teams had two riders in that move.

UAE Team ADQ had Elynor Bäckstedt and Gillespie in the breakaway, Liv AlUla Jayco had Caroline Andersson and Quinty Ton while Uno-X Mobility had Kamilla Aasebø and Alessia Vigilia.

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Those six riders were joined in the breakaway, which broke clear after the halfway stage, and with 62km still to race, by Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Premier Tech), Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health) and Amber van der Hulst (VolkerWessels Cycling Team).

And though Gillespie, and her team mate Bäckstedt, came under sustained attack coming in the road to the finish, they were able to weather the storm.

Bäckstedt played a blinder for Gillespie, getting onto the front and keeping the pace high to deter attacks from the others in the group.

At the finish - after 21 sectors of cobbles and climbs - Gillespie smoked the closing sprint, with 133.4km in her legs. Ton went early, deep inside the final kilometre, forcing Gillespie to close a gap.

However, the Irish woman was effectively in a race of her own, riding across the small gap to Ton and then immediately hitting the afterburners. Once she kicked for the line, a yawning gap opened between her and others, which continued to grow all the way to the line.

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She claimed her first victory of the season and the seventh of her career on the road, though she has won senior European and world titles on the track.

Her victory today came just 24 hours after she finished 2nd to Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) at FENIX-EKOÏ Omloop van het Hageland (1.1).

Irish road race champion Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL) was also in action today and her team missed out on the breakaway, they were on the back foot.

Griffin and her team mates were busy in the chase behind, but the cooperation required to catch the leaders was lacking. In the end, winner Gillespie finished 2:51 up on the bunch sprint for 11th place, won by her team mate Megan Jastrab.

Griffin was in that bunch, just on the wrong side of a few splits at the last, and crossed the line in 45th, exactly three minutes down. Young Aoife O'Brien was also in the race; the DAS-Hutchinson rider going the distance to finish in 71st at 10:39.

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