Lara Gillespie crashes on Paris-Roubaix cobbles on way to 8th

Lara Gillespie negotiates the pavé of Paris-Roubaix followed by former race winner Lotte Kopecky (Photo: Luc Claessen-Getty Images)

Twelve months after confirming her abilities over the pavé at Paris-Roubaix - when she placed 18th on debut - Irish rider Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) has returned to 'Hell of the North' with a top 10 finish.

The decorated Irish woman, a world and European title winner on the track, overcame a nasty fall on sector 10 of the cobbles today, but shook it off and rode to 8th place.

Gillespie finished in the third group on the road – behind the three-strong winning move and a two-rider chase group – and was third in that sprint, for 8th, at 2:20.

Irish road race champion Mia Griffin (Picnic PostNL) finished in 53rd, at 11:07, having worked for her team leader today, Pfeiffer Georgi; the Briton finishing in the Gillespie group and taking 14th place.

Fiona Mangan (Mayenne Monbana My Pie), who made her debut in this race last year, was a non-finisher today. Caoimhe O'Brien (EF Education-Oatly), riding her first Paris-Roubaix, was outside the time limit but did make it to the velodrome.

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The day belonged to German champion Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ), who found herself in the unenviable position of coming into the final with Visma Lease a Bike team mates Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos.

However, Tour de France champion, and last year’s Paris-Roubaix winner, Ferrand-Prévot, was a spent force by the finish. She had been dropped in the closing kilometres only to just about claw her way back on before they entered the velodrome.

The Visma duo had tried repeatedly to get ride of Koch, but she absorbed that pressure. In the final sprint, Koch rode it very cleverly, taking an inside line and keeping Vos high up on the track on the final bend.

Though it looked like Vos may pass her when the bend was rounded, Koch dug in and just about held off the Dutch rider for a famous win.

Some 1:30 behind the lead riders, Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) outsprinted Gillespie’s team mate, American Megan Jastrab, in the sprint that decided 4th and 5th. They have attacked from the Gillespie group in the final.

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German champion Koch just about holds off Vos to take a massive win on the velodrome at Roubaix (Photo: Thomas Maheux)

And then came the Gillespie group, numbering 18 riders and sprinting for 6th. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) was fastest, from Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) and then Gillespie.

The Irish woman had crashed with about 42km to go on a right hander during the Mérignies à Avelin sector of cobbles - sector 10 of 20 in the 143km race.

She appeared to slid out, hitting the deck hard. And though Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) had to unclip, the Dutch rider avoided falling. Thankfully, both were on their way again very quickly.

But at that point of the race the winning move had just gone up the road contained eventual winner Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ), Hungarian champion Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx-Protime) and the Visma Lease a Bike duo of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos.

It was Ferrand-Prévot who created the winning move by attacking on a small climb with 45km remaining. She put in a huge surge, and kept it going for the longest time. Vos and Vas were on her wheel, though straining to hold on. And though Koch was the final rider to react, she made it across and the move was gone.

Ferrand-Prévot’s power simply dragged the small group away the peloton, with those left behind unable to respond. Vas was unable to cope with the pace and was eventually dropped, leaving the Visma duo to work over Koch, though she was a match for them today.

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