Lara Gillespie boxed in after very difficult day in Belgium | Video

Lara Gillespie's team worked very strongly for her today but, in a really unusual sprint finish, the Irishwoman, and Lorena Wiebes, found themselves badly boxed in (Photo: Luc Claessen-Getty Images)

Two of the big favourites for Tour of Bruges (1.WWT) today, Thursday, Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx - Protime), seemed to follow each other in the final and got badly boxed in.

In their defence, the final kilometre of the race was very unusual, with even the front of the peloton looking tightly packed until the final 150m, where British teenager Carys Lloyd (Movistar Team) reached out for a surprise victory.

Gillespie ended the day 6th, which she will be disappointed with. Irish road race champion Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL), who was on team duties today, finished in the bunch, in 54th. Caoimhe O'Brien (EF Education-Oatly) was a little further back, in 92nd at 1:13.

The riders faced very challenging conditions, with rain and hail pelting the field in a downpour with about 35km to go; that coming after an already wet, cold and windy day.

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Gillespie's team spent a lot of time on the front today, another demonstrate of the support she is getting this year. And in the final the Irish rider had American team mate Megan Jastrab ahead of her acting as pilot.

But with about 1km to go, the front of the peloton bunched up a little more and Gillespie found herself bumped back. That resulted in her losing position, and also losing the back wheel of her team mate.

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Up to that point, Wiebes seemed very keen to take Gillespie's wheel for the final sprint. But when the Irish woman got bumped around a little, she found herself behind the Dutch champion.

Both of the faster finishers then got boxed in on the left side of the bunch, as the winning sprint was launched from the right, where there was plenty of room.

When a narrow corridor of space, up against the barriers, finally opened for Gillespie, many of the other riders ahead of her had kicked and she was always on the back foot. In the end she had to settle for 6th place, with Wiebes back in 9th.

Lloyd (19) was a stunned and delighted winner, though she took her chance very well, in what almost seemed like a slow motion sprint, at least a very short one. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) was 2nd and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma | Lease a Bike) placed 3rd.


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