She’s had a great year already, but this month brought an additional boost for Lara Gillespie.
Competing at the UCI Champions League in London, she judged things perfectly in the tactically-difficult elimination race on December 6th. The track event sees the last rider across the line on each lap eliminated, with the final two riders ultimately sprinting it out for the victory.
Gillespie remained in contention all the way, pipping Sami Donnelly (New Zealand) in the third-last sprint, lunging past Anita Yvonne Stenberg (Norway) in the next gallop, and then hammering Canadian Sarah Van Dam in the final flat-out effort to the line.
She finished a superb third overall at the end of the five-round league series. It was another big result after her bronze medal in the points race at the track world championships in October.
“It was really cool to get third overall just behind two pretty legendary riders,” Gillespie tells The Irish Times, speaking from her pro team training camp in Benidorm, Spain. “So I am pretty pleased with that.”
The Enniskerry rider has been a star in the making for a long, long time, having won gold and silver medals at European Championships as a junior and under 23. This year she made that big breakthrough at elite level with her bronze at this year’s track worlds. Being part of the national record-smashing Irish team pursuit squad at the Paris Olympics was also a highlight.
But Gillespie isn’t just a talented track rider. She has also proved her worth on the road and scooped two big wins this year while racing with the UAE Development Team. Things are gathering pace and she sounds excited.
“My highlight this year on the road was winning the Antwerp Classic Race,” she says, referring to her bunch sprint success in the 1.1 UCI ranked race in May. “It showed that I really enjoy a hard race. It was 50 per cent gravel and cobbles that day. And I was able to not just sprint but to race and be in there amongst some of the best in the world. So that was really fun.”
One month before than she dominated the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa stage race in Italy. Second on day one, she won stage two solo by over three minutes, seizing the race lead. The following day she tightened her grip by winning a big bunch sprint. She ultimately triumphed overall by 3′01, a huge margin over five days.
“That race was another highlight,” she says. “I didn’t go in there as the leader. I think I surprised people that I wasn’t just a track rider, and wasn’t just a sprinter. I could also win on the hard, hillier stages.”
Gillespie was increasingly in demand after those victories. Unsurprisingly, the UAE Team ADQ squad swiftly promoted her from its development team. The 23-year-old is now readying for her first full year at the top-rank WorldTour level and is raring to go.
Gillespie’s squad is the sister team to the crack UAE Team Emirates squad, also at the camp in Spain. It won the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and many other races this year with Tadej Pogačar, the biggest name in the sport.
The women’s team is also highly ambitious and Gillespie is thoroughly enjoying her time thus far.
“It’s been really jammers on the camp, but really good,” she says. “I am really enjoying the whole environment. Everything is going really good. The riders and staff are great, and also the equipment. It is really 100 per cent here.”
Gillespie is yet to get her race schedule but hopes to begin her 2025 season with racing in Mallorca, then the UAE Tour in early February.
“After that I really want to do the spring calendar,” she says. “We have a really good sprinter and Classics group here on the team. I really want to be part of that and get into all those WorldTour races that I have never done before.”
Gillespie also plans to keep mixing in track racing too. She will do the European track championships in February and hopes to ride the track worlds in October. Other than that, though, the road will be her main focus.
And she’s clear on what she would like to achieve in 2025. “My goals for the road are definitely winning as part of the team. And learning what kind of rider I am, specifically.
“I know what I really enjoy. Hopefully that aligns with what my physiology matches towards when I am riding more on the road, getting more hours in, getting more of that mileage and that proper road training in.
“Because that wasn’t a priority the last couple of years with the focus on the team pursuit.”
Gillespie has bundles of talent and now has the opportunity to explore how much she can progress.
“I am really excited to try the big races. Of course, being on the development team before, we were never able to do the WorldTour races. This seems like a perfect step forward and I am really excited.”
Velodrome fans needn’t worry though, as she believes her time on the road will also pay dividends on the track.
“With the track, I will hopefully keep gaining that confidence in getting podium spots at the top level,” she says. “I really want to go to the LA Games knowing that I have the consistency behind me over four years, rather than going in like this year thinking, ‘okay, maybe on a good day I can be top whatever…’”
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