Lara Gillespie wasn't exactly flying under the radar when she took to the start line of Poreč Trophy (1.2) in Croatia last weekend. She had never been on the radar, not in the world of international pro road racing anyway.
The 21-year-old, a decorated track rider with a hatful of U23 and junior Worlds and Europeans medals in her palmares, was making her debut for UAE Development Team. Incredibly, she was also riding her first elite road race outside of Ireland.
She raced the Worlds on the road as a junior for Ireland back in 2019. But since then track commitments have taken over. It is only now that she is spreading her wings and taking to the roads of Europe in the pro peloton; something many people in Irish cycling have been hoping to see for a long time.
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Gillespie told stickybottle she was delighted with her new team - which operates as part of the same structure as the UAE men's and women's World Tour teams. Last Sunday she was chosen as team leader, with a lead-out laid on by her team mates. That is something she will, hopefully, get used to in the season ahead which will be filled with pro road racing.
And while happy with her 2nd place last Sunday, she couldn't help but feel she allowed race winner Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Pro Cycling) steal a march on her in the final kilometre with the winning late attack.
"It's always great to be on a podium and if you'd told me that at the start of the day I would have been absolutely delighted," she said. "Of course, afterwards you think it's one second of decision-making that defines a victory and the victory would have been nice, so that's a shame. But it's a good place to start."
Gillespie said the climb to the finish line, which was negotiated each lap, was a tough one. And though she had a lead-out in place, she hesitated for a moment when Kuskova attacked.
When that attack was launched, one of Gillespie's team mates peeled off the front. And though the Irish woman said she "should have just gone" at that point, she was slightly boxed in and with 500m to go she simply lingered a bit too long.
"By the time I hit the front, that girl had about 15 metres and I was closing it down, but… If I had been on the outside (of the group) a bit more I could have been on her wheel."
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Gillespie said as the race unfolded, and the main field took in the climb each lap, she felt progressively better. She remained at the front in the hope a group would get clear. However, those efforts came to nothing and it paved the way for a sprint last time up the climb, which split the field to pieces.
"But I was happy with how I raced and the team was really, really good," she said. "We decided they were going to do that lead-out (for me) and probably a little more refining of that would be good. But as a first day out it was savage."
Asked how she had found the team so far, she replied: "Really, really cool. This is literally my first elite road race out of Ireland. So even that in itself is kinda crazy because I've done a lot of track and other disciplines. (The team) is completely new but I feel at home, it doesn't feel crazy new or out of place. The girls are really nice and we get on really well.
"Even (on Sunday) on the road, there were a few of us that could have done well. And it was good that we were decisive and to be chosen as the one who would try and win. It's really nice; coaches are great, we've good equipment and clothing… It's a good pathway and I'm surrounded by professionals who know what they're doing."
Gillespie added she now had a long run of racing planned out; mixing her track commitments with her new road trade team, just as most of the top track riders do.
She came home for a short break this week but was immediately on the road again to ride Drentse Acht van Westerveld (1.1) in the Netherlands today. After today's race - and having already been in Switzerland and Indonesia in recent weeks racing track - she will move on to Cairo for the next UCI Nations Cup, where she rides team pursuit and possibly some individual events.
She will then hopefully get to work on her endurance - important after a period of track focus and also a bout of Covid-19 before the Europeans last month.
"I missed my team training camp and I was feeling dreadful at the start of January," she explained of coming down with Covid-19, adding an upcoming 10-day training block after Cairo should be very beneficial. And once that period is over, around the end of March and early April, she will have another UCI Nations Cup in Canada towards the end of next month.
After that, she will throw herself into the international road racing scene and later in the summer will ride the track Worlds in Glasgow.
