Lara Gillespie has taken bronze at the UCI Track World Championships in Denmark
Lara Gillespie has claimed a sensational bronze medal for Ireland in the women’s points race at the UCI Track World Championships in Denmark.
The 23-year-old Wicklow woman went into the finale of the 25km race on the velodrome in Ballarat with a haul of 29 points, putting her in fifth place, six points off a medal with just one sprint remaining.
While each mid-race sprint accrues a maximum of five points for the winner every ten laps, the final sprint of the points race sees points doubled on the finish line and Gillespie knew she had to be first over the line to get on the podium.
“I’d kind of conserved myself quite well in the race and I felt that I could definitely win the last sprint but I didn’t want to take any chances,” she says of a storming attack that sent her clear of the peloton with seven laps remaining, rather than gambling on a her usually reliable kick in the bunch sprint finale.
“I just said ‘Let’s go full gas!’ I didn’t quite realise that maybe if I’d gone completely full gas I maybe could have taken a lap (and gained another 20 points), but I’m happy with that.
“Sometimes I tend to go out really hard in the points race and then die in the end but today I wanted to make the difference in the end.
“I think I raced really smartly, stayed in the wheels when I needed to but gained a few points along the way and then made the big effort in the end. I’m really happy I could pull it off.”
Winning the final sprint saw Gillespie take the maximum 10 points on offer and leapfrogged her into the bronze medal position, just one point off German world road race champion Lotte Kopecky and four points off gold medallist and home favourite Julie Leth of Denmark.
A former European points race champion at junior and U23 level, Gillespie had already finished fifth in the Elimination Race, eighth in the Omnium and seventh in the Madison before stepping up to the top tier podium today with a very gutsy performance.
“I’m quite relieved to be honest,” she said trackside afterwards. “I knew in the past few days that I was coming closer and closer and I knew I had good legs. All year I’ve been getting closer and closer so it’s nice to bring something home finally.”