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topicnews · October 12, 2024

Lara Gillespie escapes a crash and achieves a very strong result in the Netherlands

Lara Gillespie escapes a crash and achieves a very strong result in the Netherlands

Lara Gillespie survived an eventful finale – with two exits and a late crash in the group – to achieve a very strong World Tour race result (Photo: Caroline Kerley)

Lara Gillespie took a strong 5th place after an eventful finale on the penultimate stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, a World Tour stage race in the Netherlands.

The Irish rider initially appeared to be well placed at the front of the much reduced peloton with around 3km to go, having been led by her UAE Team ADQ teammates.

However, they were then severely overloaded and pushed back by the group as street furniture narrowed the road, leading to a battle for position.

But somehow the team gained momentum again shortly before the finish and pushed away the small peloton, but there was a bad crash.

While Gillespie managed to stay safe, one of her teammates fell, including world champion Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) and top sprinter Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-unternehmenich PostNL).

Kopecky appeared to fall very hard, remaining on the tarmac for a while before getting back on and slowly riding to the finish with her teammates, although the Belgian rider looked shaken and suffered a lot of impact on her left shoulder.

At the front, the world champion’s teammate, Lorena Wiebes, secured three victories in a row; Victory on the day after 140 km of riding in the wind to Doetinchem.

Former world champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) came second, Nienke Veenhoven (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Gillespie fifth.

That was a good result at this level and follows the Irish rider’s seventh place finish in the second stage, with the Wicklow woman showing she is in good form ahead of the upcoming Track World Championships.

Before tomorrow’s final stage – 145.8 km with start and finish in Arnhem – Franziska Koch (Team dsm-unternehmenich PostNL) is still in the lead.

More will follow.

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