By Shane Stokes
Lara Gillespie’s two stage wins in the Rás na mBan were notable for a couple of reasons. They were the first such successes by an Irish rider since Olivia Dillon won a stage in 2014, and they also proved that she is very much back and regaining momentum.
The 21 year old rider is one of the most exciting talents in Irish cycling, having shown a special ability early on in taking the European junior points race title in 2018. Three silver medals followed in 2019, plus individual pursuit bronze in the junior world championships.
She then took the Irish road race championship title the following year, despite being just 19 years of age. A glittering future seemed on the cards.
Since then things haven’t been smooth sailing. Her progression was complicated by periods of illness and injury, including a bout of glandular fever. But Rás na mBan shows she is getting back on track.
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She’s making up for lost time and also has a greater hunger as a result of her time away.
“The time away made me realize obviously I do want to keep [going in the sport],” she told stickybottle after the final stage of Rás na mBan. “I fought through so much to get here, so I think that showed to myself how much I want it. And then it also just made me so much more mentally strong because I went through a lot of illness and everything.
“That’s actually really helped me going forward. And I can dig deeper now.”
The road back to two important wins
Gillespie missed much of the current season but resumed training with the Irish track squad over the summer. She made her return to international competition with them at the European track championships in Munich in August.
She joined up with Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin to finish sixth in the team pursuit, clocking up a time of 4 minutes 25.53 seconds for the 4000 metre distance.
She and Griffin then went on to take ninth in the Madison competition at the same championships, their chances affected by a crash injuring Griffin.
Gillespie returned to winning form in the final round of the National Road Series in Dromore on August 20th, beating Eve McCrystal (Bellurgan Wheelers) and Ella Doherty (UCD Cycling Club).
Her progression continued when she triumphed in front of international competition on the opening stage of Rás na mBan. Taking a bunch sprint into Callan, she beat eventual race winner Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) to the line, and triumphed again three days later when she was first ahead of fellow Irishwoman Ellen McDermott into Piltown.
A strong third in the stage five time trial, Gillespie was a picture of calm concentration in the final criterium, looking like one of the strongest riders as the laps ticked down.
She was sitting close to the front going across the start/finish line but didn’t seem to be expending much energy, making another stage win a distinct possibility.
However she hit the deck several laps from the end and had to chase hard, being paced on by Ireland teammates Eve McCrystal and Kelly Murphy. That burned up energy that she otherwise would have conserved for the final lap, and she was ultimately fourth on the stage.
It says something about her ambition that her immediate reaction was about what she missed out on, rather than what she achieved as a whole in the race.
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“I wanted to win the crit. So it was disappointing,” she told stickybottle when asked her thoughts on Rás na mBan. “My back wheel skidded out multiple times. I kept it up, kept it up, kept it up, and then it just went. I didn’t get any injuries, just a bit of road rash.”
Reflecting on what happened, she identified an error made, a lesson learned.
“I forgot to take a lap out, I just got back in straightaway,” she said. “I fought to do that and to get back up to the front, because it’s just so important to be up there when it’s so sketchy. The roads were just so greasy.
“I came fourth then in the sprint, so that as a bit disappointing. I should have gone earlier. But I did my best.”
Cycling Ireland Head Coach Neill Delahaye was impressed by Gillespie’s performance at Rás na mBan, and believes she is regaining her momentum.
“Lara’s back to where she wants to be,” he told stickybottle. “She’s had a rough time health-wise with various issues, but she’s definitely on a really nice trajectory now.
“I think this week the team pulled together really well. Early on you can see there was really good cohesion and they supported Lara to enable her to do her thing when it gets to those last couple of hundred meters.
“So it was a really good race. We’re happy, it’s been a while since Ireland got any stages. And for Lara now ahead of track worlds, that’s been perfect prep. That’s going to lead her in stronger and we are hoping we’ll have a good worlds campaign.”
Building towards a long-term aim
Gillespie exits Rás na mBan stronger and more confident than she started it. That’s important for her after a long period on the sidelines, and encouraging too for anyone else who is dealing with setbacks in sport.
She looked relaxed and content at the finish, and speaks of her return to the sport with enthusiasm.
“I was happy with how the race went. I got a few stage wins. I’m getting some road legs back in. It was really nice to get a good week of racing with the girls, it was a really good team.
“I had a rough couple of years now. So I’m definitely on a comeback. And yeah, I just seem to be feeling stronger and healthier every week. So hopefully it continues in that trajectory.”
The next target is the track world championships in October. Gillespie will have a rest week this week, then head out to Mallorca and spend time there with the others on the Irish track team, building form in advance to targeting the team pursuit at the worlds.
Beyond that, she wants to step up her road racing in 2023.
“Hopefully I can get on a continental road team,” she said. “I’m trying to get that sorted. And that will help with the track racing as well. We have a lot of track racing at the front of next year, and it’s the start of the Olympic qualifying. So that will kind of take up most of the time until April.
“I can then focus on some road. Then we have track worlds in August, and then I can focus again on road after that. So it’ll be a bit of chopping and changing, but it’ll be a great year, hopefully.”
What about longer term – is being part of a WorldTour team an ambition for her?
“Yeah, definitely,” she said. “I’d love that. So yeah, I’m building up the steps towards that.”
