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European, before spring, mainly trained in ropy footwear (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

espadrille

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'footwear' is the definition.
(espadrille is a kind of footwear)

'european before spring mainly trained in ropy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'spring' could be 'spa' (spa can mean a mineral spring) and 'spa' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for espadrille that I've seen before include "Light rope-soled shoe" , "[SHOE], made casually" , "Cord-soled shoe" , "Pale idlers (anag.)" , "Plaited fibres in its sole" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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