Lara Gillespie has been in a race against time to make it to the Tour de France Femmes but, following her recovery from a bad injury, she will make history in the race on Saturday afternoon.
The women's Tour de France begins in Vannes, Brittany and, for the first time ever, there will be an Irish presence.
In fact not one but three Irish riders will take part: Gillespie, current national champion Mia Griffin and last year’s title holder Fiona Mangan.
This is the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, but Irish women were also absent from the previous women’s race run by the Tour organisers between 1984 and 1989.
The event is the biggest race on the women’s calendar, and has greatly helped the growth of the women’s side of the sport, and gives Gillespie a lot of satisfaction be lining out in it.
"I am buzzing to be one of the first Irish girls to be at the Tour, so that is really exciting to be part of," she told RTÉ Sport on Friday.
"I’m happy to see Fiona and Mia in there and we can experience this whirlwind together."
Gillespie has long shown her talent on the track, taking European championship titles at junior, under 23 and Elite level. The Enniskerry rider was, along with Griffin, part of the Irish team pursuit squad which finished a fine ninth in last year’s Olympics.
She is an accomplished road race rider too, and secured a contract with the UAE Team ADQ WorldTour-level squad last summer following victory in the Antwerp Port Epic Ladies race, plus the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa.
This season has been a very promising one for the 24-year-old, with strong results in a number of races.
She was runner up in the Fenix Omloop van het Hageland, and third in both Le Samyn des Dames and the Danilith Nokere Koerse. In May she was fourth on a stage of the Vuelta España Femenina, one of the biggest races in the sport.
"I am super grateful and feel really privileged to be part of the team," she said of her selection for the Tour de France Femmes.
"It is a really great opportunity and a great team we have here."
However, she almost missed the chance.
In mid-June, Gillespie fell in the Elmos Dwars door het Hageland race. She remounted and was able to sprint in 12th, but after the race it became clear that something was amiss.
"I had an unfortunate crash over a month ago where I landed on my sacrum," she said. "I had fluid in the bone. I didn’t break anything, but I had to really rest a lot from the races."
Trying to get ready for the Tour, she went to Spain with her first coach, Martin O’Loughlin. They worked hard together and she quickly built form.
"I had a really nice ten days in Majorca, with Martin motorpacing me," she said. "That was really cool. I knew if I left that camp sprinting good, doing high intensity, doing high volume then I could get through to the team.
"So that is what happened, and so I am here with a really strong team, really good energy. We are ready to fight for some stages, so that is really cool."
The 24-year-old is a strong sprinter and will relish the opportunity to square up against the world’s best such as the Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes. Stages one and two are lumpy and feature uphill finishes which may favor different types of riders, but days three and four are predicted to end in bunch gallops.
From there things get progressively more mountainous, meaning sprint specialist Gillespie’s best chances of high placing will be in the first half of the race.
Griffin (Roland Le Dévoluy) and Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) will also be looking forward to those early stages, with aims of helping their teams but also trying to show their own strength too.
There is an additional goal for the trio; building up vital experience in the sport’s top event in order to grow as competitors and to become even stronger.
And making history for Irish cycling? That’s a significant motivation too.
Tour de France Femmes schedule:
Stage 1, Saturday 26 July: Vannes to Plumelec, 78.8 km (49 miles)
Stage 2, Sunday 27 July: Brest to Quimper, 110.4 km (68.6 miles)
Stage 3, Monday 28 July: La Gacilly to Angers, 163.5 km (101.6 miles)
Stage 4, Tuesday 29 July: Saumur to Poitiers, 130.7 km (81.2 miles)
Stage 5, Wednesday 30 July: Chasseneuil-du-Poitou to Guéret, 165.8 km (103 miles)
Stage 6, Thursday 31 July: Clermont-Ferrand to Ambert, 123.7 km (76.9 miles)
Stage 7, Friday 1 August: Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambéry, 159.7 km (99.2 miles)
Stage 8, Saturday 2 August: Chambéry to Saint François Longchamp – Col de la Madelaine, 111.9 km (69.5 miles)
Stage 9, Sunday 3 August Praz-Sur-Arly to Châtel Les Portes du Soleil Pré Lajoux, 124.1 km (77.1 miles)
