Lara Gillespie takes her second European title of the weekend

Lara Gillespie has followed up her superb gold medal in the Under-23 European Championship points race on Friday with victory in the multi-race Omnium contest on Saturday.

The Enniskerry rider dominated the event in Anadia, Portugal, netting 10th in the opening scratch race, then moving up to third overall by winning the tempo and elimination rounds.

She then sealed victory with a strong ride in the concluding points race, ending the Omnium with a total of 126 points. Runner-up Katrijn De Clercq of Belgium was on 118 points and Maike van der Duin (Netherlands) was on 117.

Gillespie previously won the European junior points race title in 2018. This weekend’s successes brings her career gold medal tally to three. The 22 year-old also has five silver medals as an Under-23 and junior to her credit.

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Meanwhile Ireland’s Darren Rafferty has once again shown evidence of his huge ability, taking over the race lead in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc with one stage remaining. The race is one of the most prestigious on the international Under-23 calendar.

Having placed fourth and fifth on Thursday and Friday’s summit finishes, the Hagens Berman Axeon rider had started the stage third overall, 27″ behind the overall leader Joshua Golliker (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ). He jumped up to the top of the leader board with a very impressive performance on Saturday’s mountain stage to the top of the Fenis Clavalité climb.

He finished second, 1′08″ behind the Italian winner Sergio Meris (Team Colpack Ballan CSB), and took time out of all of his main rivals.

The Dungannon rider ended the day 2′44 ahead of Frenchman Alexy Faure Prost (Circuis-ReUz-Technord) and 3′19 in front of Isaac del Toro (A.R Monex Pro Cycling Team).

He also takes over the lead of the points classification and jumps seven places to second in the mountains competition.

The race concludes on Sunday with the fourth summit finish in as many days, a 109.7km stage to Breuil-Cervinia. It is 2,000 metres above sea level and will be a real test for all the riders.

Rafferty is one of the most promising young Irish riders and is tipped for a big pro contract next year.

Meanwhile Liam O’Brien remains at the head of affairs heading into Sunday’s final stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland. Saturday’s fifth stage to Barefield ended in a big bunch gallop to the line, with Niall Colquitt (Isle of Man) outsprinting Kaden Colling (Ignite Canada), Rhys Thomas (Bäckstedt Bike Performance), Oisin Ferrity (Ireland), Joel Hurt (Prologue Racing Team) and 38 others.

Stage one winner O’Brien remains six seconds clear of closest challenger Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada) in the general classification. Colling is at 16 seconds, while Ben Stokes (Hot Tubes), Ryno Schutte (Tempo), Magnus White (Boulder Junior Cycling), Sasha Renaud (Hot Tubes) and Alexander Foster (Innovation Racing) are all 22 seconds back.

The race concludes with a 79.1km circuit race in Ennis. If O’Brien holds on he will become the first Irish winner since Ben Walsh in 2017. His stage one victory last Wednesday was the first such Irish stage success since 2018.

Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland

Stage 5 Ennis to Barefield: 1 Niall Colquitt (Isle of Man) 87km in 1 hour 58′26, 2 K Colling (Ignite Canada), 3 R Thomas (Bäckstedt Bike Performance), 4 O Ferrity (Ireland), 5 J Hurt (Prologue Racing Team) all same time

KOM primes

Category 3 climb at km 38: 1 Charles Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 5 pts, 2 L Brennan (Halesowen) 3, 3 W Cucco (Team Swift) 1

Category 3 climb at km 41.1: 1 Presley Evans (Team Swift) 5 pts, 2 C Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 3, 3 C Neil (Cycling Ulster) 1

Category 2 climb at km 49.1: 1 Tadhg Killeen (Leinster A) 9 pts, 2 W O’Connor (Tarrant Skoda Red) 7, 3 M White (Boulder Junior Cycling) 5

Category 2 climb at km. 63.1: 1 Charles Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 9 pts, 2 J Bardsley (Innovation Racing) 7, 3 N Colquitt (Isle of Man) 5, 4 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 3

Mountains: 1 Charles Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 21, 2 C Neil (Cycling Ulster) 18, 3 E Uptegrove (Tempo) 9, 4 A Dick (The Cycling Academy) 5, 5 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 5

Team: 1 Prologue Racing Team 5h 55′18, 2 Tempo, 3 Ireland, 4 Isle of Man, 5 Team Swift all same time

General classification after stage 5: 1 Liam O’Brien (Ireland) 5 hours 43 mins 12 secs, 2 H Lubbers (Ignite Canada) at 6″, 3 K Colling (Ignite Canada) at 16″, 4 B Stokes (Hot Tubes) at 22″, 5 R Schutte (Tempo)

Points: 1 Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada) 40, 2 O Ferrity (Ireland) 40, 3 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 33, 4 E Uptegrove (Tempo) 31, 5 L O’Brien (Ireland) 28

Mountains: 1 Charles Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 21, 2 C Neil (Cycling Ulster) 18, 3 E Uptegrove (Tempo) 9, 4 A Dick (The Cycling Academy) 5, 5 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 5

Young rider: 1 Joel Hurt (Prologue Racing Team) 7 hours 42′29″, 2 I Sorby (Isle of Man), 3 C Tutty (Ireland) 4 J Rohde (Velosport), 5 P Evans (Team Swift) all same time

Team: 1 Hot Tubes 23 hours 6′29, 2 Ireland at 21″, 3 Isle of Man at 57″, 4 Prologue Racing Team at 1′19, 5 EF Education Onto at 1′23