Lara Gillespie, a new World Tour pro with UAE Team ADQ has been crowned overall winner of the Lotto Cycling Cup; a major series of one-day road races in Europe in which there was plenty of Irish participation in the final round.
The 23-year-old Irish rider, and former national road race champion, has just completed her first Olympics, riding the team pursuit and smashing the Irish record with her team mates, as well as putting it up to the best in the world in the omnium.
And while she has not yet returned to road racing with her trade team after the Paris Games, Gillespie has maintained her lead - to wrap up overall victory - in the Lotto Cycling Cup after the final round in Belgium yesterday, Egmont Cycling Race Women (1.2).
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The race was won by Lieke Nooijen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and the placings in that final round - and points available for the overall series - did not dislodged Gillespie from the series lead she took when she won Antwerp Port Epic Ladies (1.1) in mid May.
As well as that win, she also took 4th place in the Cyclis Bike Lease Classic at the start of May and was 19th in Elmos Dwars door het Hageland in June.
Those results meant she had a tally of 28 points as the final round of the series got underway yesterday, with none of the riders who filled the top five on the day overtaking her.
Gillespie completed a clean sweep of the top three for her team in the Lotto Cycling Cup series, with Karlijn Swinkels 2nd on 26 points and Chiara Consonni, who won gold in the madison at the Paris Olympics, taking 3rd place in the series on 24 points.
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Though Gillespie did not ride the final round yesterday, several other Irish riders took to the start line in the 113.8km race from Sint-Lievens-Houtem to Zottegem.
Caoimhe O'Brien (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother-UK), who has enjoyed a really strong run of late with two wins on the Belgian kermesse scene, was best placed of the Irish; in 26th place at 3:58, which was a very solid showing in a race with just 72 finishers.
Irish road race champion Fiona Mangan (Cynisca Cycling) was the other Irish finished, placing 71st at 5:08. Aoife O'Brien (Cyclingteam Belco-Van Eyck) and Amelia Tyler (Alba Development Road Team) were among the non-finishers on the day.
Lara Gillespie wins!
That last 10km was great fun with attack after attack after attack! Absolutely relentless stuff after all the gravel today#AntwerpPortEpic #APE24 pic.twitter.com/JRyuadnTpr
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) May 19, 2024
Lara Gillespie winning the Antwerp Port Classic back in mid May to take the overall lead in the Lotto Cycling Cup, which she has now won overall
