Sprinters outfoxed at Le Samyn as Irish rider Gillespie rewards brilliant UAE Team ADQ work

There was no Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne for the women, so after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad — where Demi Vollering took an immediate win — attention turned to Le Samyn. The Belgian semi-classic is a proper cobbled test: often it ends in a sprint, but it’s selective enough to create differences before the finish.

Last year Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx–Protime) was comfortably the strongest, but the Dutch champion didn’t start on Monday. That put a lot of eyes on Charlotte Kool. The Fenix–Premier Tech sprinter had won Omloop van het Hageland on Sunday and arrived with quick legs once again.

But would it actually come down to a bunch sprint? It took a long time for a breakaway to form — and when it finally did, around the halfway point, it was a serious one: ten riders got clear, including Quinty Ton and Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco), Amber van der Hulst (VolkerWessels), Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance – Soudal), Marthe Truyen (Fenix–Premier Tech) and Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ).

Gillespie had finished second at Omloop van het Hageland and looked like the rider to beat in this group. Up front, the advantage only grew, even as Picnic PostNL tried to bring the break back. Crucially, there were team-mates present in the move: Gillespie also had Elynor Bäckstedt with her, and the Welsh rider rode herself empty for her leader. With 20 kilometres to go, the break still held more than two minutes.

That meant the win was there to be taken. On a tricky course featuring cobbles and short, punchy rises, plenty of riders knew they had to find a way to distance Gillespie. But the repeated accelerations were often shut down by Bäckstedt, even if UAE Team ADQ were kept under constant pressure as attacks continued to fly.

Ton’s move looked like it might finally finish Bäckstedt off — and for a moment, it did split things. Gillespie found herself in front with Ton, Andersson, Goossens, Truyen and Kamilla Aasebø (Uno-X). But Bäckstedt clawed her way back, returned to the front, and helped mop up the final attacks. Gillespie then neutralised the last accelerations herself before sprinting coolly to victory.