DOUR, BELGIUM - MARCH 02: Lara Gillespie of Ireland and UAE Team ADQ celebrates at podium as race winner during the 15th Le Samyn des Dames 2026, Women&apos;s Elite a 133.4km one day race from Quaregnon to Dour on March 02, 2026 in Dour, Belgium. (Photo by Rhode Van Elsen/Getty Images)

Samyn Ladies: Lara Gillespie surges on uphill finish in Dour from small breakaway for first road win of the season

March 3, 2026

Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) rushed from a nine-rider breakaway group and earned the victory in an uphill sprint at Beobank Samyn Ladies. Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished second, and Marthe Truyven (Fenix-Premier Tech) went third in Dour.

The World Champion on the track went clear with under 200 metres to go and earned her first victory on the road Monday, just one day after going second in Omloop van het Hageland.

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Gillespie moved across to the decisive breakaway group to join teammate Elynor Bäckstedt, and the two worked together to keep the lead bunch intact for a final sprint.

Lara Gillespie has room to spare with victory in Dour (Image credit: Getty Images)

Many of the women who lined up to compete in the 133.4km Beobank Samyn Ladies undoubtedly could feel some fatigue from Opening Weekend, where Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) won Omloop van het Hageland.

The women’s race, now in a 12th edition, started in Quaregnon and tackled four circuits, totalling 25 cobbled sectors, before finishing in Dour.

There were several early-race crashes in the peloton as the field swept through the narrow and winding roads and teams sent off a flurry of attacks. However, the peloton remained largely intact for the first half of the race.

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Elynor Backstedt (UAE Team ADQ) lead the peloton on a cobbled sector (Image credit: Getty Images)

A breakaway of 10 emerged midway through the race on the second circuit with Elynor Bäckstedt and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ), Kamilla Aasebø and Alessia Vigilia (Uno-X Mobility), Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Premier Tech), Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health), Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal), Caroline Andersson and Quinty Ton (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Amber van der Hulst (VolkerWessels).

The breakaway riders were organised in their efforts and worked well together with their gap pushing out to more than two minutes.

Lotto-Intermaché and Picnic-PostNL took control of the main peloton, but it was AG Insurance-Soudal that split the field with 34km remaining.

The reduced field came back together as the race started the final lap, while the breakaway held their nearly two minutes into the final 15km of racing.

With the speed picking up with 6.5km to go, the VolkerWessels rider was the first to drop back while Liv AlUla Jayco and UAE Team ADQ each kept their pair of riders intact, and a yo-yo effect taking place on the final cobbled sector. But the nine stayed regrouped for the final two kilometres to set up the sprint finish.