Ireland’s Lara Gillespie takes European points race title in Portugal

Lara Gillespie landed the most important result of her career on Friday, winning the Under-23 points race at the European Championships in Portugal.

The Enniskerry rider scored solidly throughout the race, winning sprints four and eight out of 10, picking up points in four other sprints and then clinching things by crossing the finish line first at the end of the race.

She hit the front at the start of the last lap and held off all the other riders, beating Maike van der Duin (Netherlands) to the line and ending the 100 lap race with 49 points. Van der Duin had 42, with bronze medallist Tetiana Yashchenko (Ukraine) on 31.

“I am really, really happy.” Gillespie said. “It was a great day on the bike. I felt really strong so I am happy to pull it off. I am proud to be here and represent Ireland. We have a good team around us today so thank you to everyone, and thank you to Cycling Ireland.”

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Gillespie is part of a six-rider team at the event in the velodrome in Anadia, Portugal. Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien plus Erin Creighton are the four Under-23 women taking part, while Aaron Wade and Stefan Caulfield-Dreier are the Under-23 men.

Creighton recorded the best result until Gillespie’s win, netting fifth in the scratch race on Wednesday.

Gillespie previously won the European junior points race title in 2018, and has five silver medals as an Under-23 and junior to her credit.

Meanwhile stage 3 of the Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland was cancelled on Friday. The stage was due to cover 111.7km, starting in Ballyvaughan and concluding atop a category one climb close to Aillwee Caves, but was called off due to bad weather.

Liam O’Brien (Ireland) will begin Saturday’s stage in the yellow jersey of overall leader. Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada) is six seconds back while Ben Stokes (Hot Tubes) is at 22″.

Saturday’s penultimate stage begins in the outskirts of Ennis and covers 87.8km before a finish in Barefield.

Finally Irish cycling is mourning the passing of Australian-based Irish rider Connor Lambert. The 25 year-old was killed when struck by a vehicle during a training ride in Belgium on Wednesday.

Lambert had competed in the national championships on several occasions in the past, with his results including ninth in the Under-23 time trial in 2018.

He was known as a very likable person, something Australian rider Jai Hindley referenced in a tribute to him. He is sitting third overall in the Tour de France and led the race for a stage last week.

“I want to send out my good vibes and thoughts to his family and the whole WA [Western Australia] cycling community, especially as it’s a pretty small community but it’s like a big family. I’m really devastated to hear about that news.

“He was a really great guy, so I will be thinking about him for the rest of the race. It was a privilege to know you and to call you a mate.”

May he rest in peace.