Irish cycling may have been battered again by the pandemic in 2021, but that didn't stop our best making their mark on the international stage. We witnessed fantastic results on road, track and paracycling in what was a truly memorable season for Irish cycling.
In this piece, stickybottle has picked out what we believe were the best international performances of 2021 by Irish riders; race wins, medal wins and great rides that made an impression even if they didn't result in a victory or a medal.
We've happened to pick 17 performances. That number wasn't planned; there were simply 17 people, results and rides in the list when we'd completed it.
We've ranked them in reverse order, starting from 17th to the best performance of the year by an Irish rider, describing the performance and a little about each rider.
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17 Kevin McCambridge | Win in France
In June, Kevin McCambridge (20) took his first win on foreign soil. He was best in the Souvenir Bruno Mura in Sorgues in Vaucluse, France, when he got clear on his own and won the race by 30 seconds on the men chasing behind. The Irishman, riding for French team AVC Aix En Provence this year, contracted Covid-19 not long after arriving in France in February, which set him back just as he was settling in. However, he later went on to win the Irish U23 TT title and has secured a place with the Trinity Racing Continental team for 2022.
16 Adam Ward | World Championships
In September, Adam Ward (21) threw caution to the wind and got up the road in the U23 road race at the World Road Championships in Belgium. The young Irishman put in a strong ride in the green jersey in the front of capacity crowds gathered roadside. The sight of the jersey at the head of the race brought out the very best in Irish fans who had traveled, with Ward showing no fear in getting stuck in at the highest level.
15 Megan Armitage | Emptinne GP Roland Warnon win
In August, Megan Armitage (25) underlined just how far she has come in less than two years when she took a win against some professional opposition in Belgium. The Offaly rider, and former UCD Cycling Club member, was competing for UCI Continental team Rupelcleaning-Champion, when she Emptinne GP Roland Warnon in Wallonie. It was confirmation, if it was needed, that Armitage is a special talent; beating Belgian international and five-time national TT champion, Ann-Sophie Duyck, in a two-up sprint for her first win.
14 Rory Townsend | Tour de la Mirabelle win
In May, Townsend (26) sprinted in from a lead group to win the opening stage at Tour de la Mirabelle (2.2) in France. He beat British rider Joseph Pidcock (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ), the 19-year-old younger brother of Tom Pidcock. It was another great result by Townsend, who has consistently performed very strongly in Europe and against the pros when racing in Britain. On the day Townsend made the large lead group after the race split on a late climb, before going on to finish the job on the line.
13 Gary O'Reilly | Handcycling bronze at Paralympics
While the Paralympics belonged to Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal from a cycling perspective, O'Reilly put in an epic showing. He claimed bronze for Ireland in the men’s H5 time trial at the Fuji International Speedway on his debut at this level. His modest and surprise reaction was the icing on the cake, making for a truly memorable Irish sporting moment. O’Reilly, who was left with life-changing spinal injuries in a workplace accident in 2014, clocked a time of 39:36.46 today to secure the final step on the podium; an incredible Paralympic debut for the Laois man.
12 Darren Rafferty | European TT Championships 4th
In September, Darren Rafferty - an 18-year-old from Coalisland, Co Tyrone - put in a fantastic performance to claim 4th in the junior TT at the European Road Championships in Trento, Italy. It was his first UCI-ranked event of the year, though he had already gone on the rampage during the summer in France to take win after win. That performance by Rafferty at the Europeans confirmed what hardcore Irish road cyclists and fans already strongly suspected - that the Irish teenager's talent is world class. (Photo by Sean Rowe)
11 Lara Gillespie | U23 European Champs silver
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In August, Lara Gillespie (20), notched up another chapter of an already storied career; winning silver in the U23 individual pursuit at the European Track Championships in the Netherlands. Her season was hampered by injury this year but that ride once again confirmed her talent, having already claimed multiple medals - including gold - on the track at the Europeans and Worlds as a junior.
10 Nicolas Roche | Giro stage 18
In May, Roche (37) went very close indeed to taking a stage in the Giro to add to his victories - and leaders' jerseys - from La Vuelta during his career. The Team DSM Irishman was on the attack repeatedly off the front of the lead group but eventual winner Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Nippo) just had a little too much for him on the final small climb of the day. Both Roche the Bettiol had forged clear of the breakaway in pursuit of lone attacker Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep). As they closed on the French rider, Bettiol distanced Roche; the Irishman caught in the finale by Simone Consonni (Cofidis) but still taking a fantastic 3rd in what was a riveting stage.
9 Eddie Dunbar | Tour de Suisse
In June, Eddie Dunbar (25) showed what he is capable of at Tour de Suisse. The Ineos Grenadiers rider, a talented climber, really showcased his abilities on the climbs in Switzerland. He helped his team mate Richard Carapaz to overall victory on the final stage in particular he rode hard from the front in the select group. Aside from making sure of Carapaz's win, Dunbar took 4th on that final stage and also wrapped up the young rider classification; his first such win in a WorldTour race
8 Ben Healy | Baby Giro stage win
In June, Ben Healy (21) went into the Baby Giro hopefully of challenging in the overall and taking a stage win riding for Trinity Racing. He was 2nd in the stage 4 TT and 3rd in the road race stage 5 the following day. However, when it looked like his chance was gone, Healy pounced on the final day; getting in the stage-winning breakaway and attacking it for a strong solo win. He sailed across the line in Castelfranco Veneto, in his Irish champion's kit, with plenty of time to celebrate his win.
7 JB Murphy | European Track Championships bronze
In October, JB Murphy (22), enjoyed a breakthrough ride in his career after taking a bronze medal in the scratch race at the European Track Championship; his first medal at an elite championships after winning medals at the Worlds and Europeans as a junior. Murphy lit up the race over the last 10 laps, showing no fear and real class to ride away from the field. He seized the bronze medal after two others – Rui Oliveira of Portugal and Vincent Hoppezak of the Netherlands – had gained a lap to wrap up the gold and silver.
6 Kelly Murphy | World Cup pursuit gold
In July, Kelly Murphy (32) went into the UCI World Cup in St Petersburg in great form. She was part of the team pursuit line-up that won bronze at the meeting before going into the individual pursuit to try and take a result for herself. In qualifying she broke her own national record for the event when she clocked a time of 3:29.510. That time was just inside her previous record of 3:29.699, which she set at the World Track Championships in Berlin last year. Murphy then met Russian rider Alena Ivanchenko in the final. The Irish rider took the gold in a time of 3:30.422, which was considerably faster than her rival’s time of 3:33.064. Another member of the Irish team, Mia Griffin, won the bronze medal in the same event in Russia.
5 Team pursuiters | European Championships bronze
In October the four Irish woman that made up the team pursuit line-up this year achieved an historic first in become the first Irish team pursuiters to win a medal at a major championships; bronze at the European Track Championships in Switzerland. Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy, Emily Kay and Mia Griffin broke the national record on the way to their medal-winning ride in Grenchen. They beat Great Britain in the bronze medal ride-off having earlier in the day clocked a new Irish record of 4:21.202, lowering their previous marker of 4:21.368.
4 Dunlevy-McCrystal | Double Paralympic gold
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal went back to the Tokyo Paralympics five years after winning gold and silver in Rio. This time around they took silver in the pursuit on the track before turning their attention to the road, to claim gold in both the road race and TT. It was an incredible performance over a week in August and September by the two Irish women, whose longevity and sheer dominance at two Paralympics, and during the years between, will not be easily repeated. They topped the year by winning the 'team of the year' at the RTE Sports Annual Awards, ahead of Olympic champion rowers Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and a whole host of others. Whether partially sighted Dunlevy and her pilot McCrystal will continue to Paris in 2024 as a partnership remains to be decided. Either way, they have written their names into Ireland's history at the Paralympics and have absolutely nothing more to prove.
3 Sam Bennett | Paris Nice stage 1
This win in March - into Saint-Cyr-L'École after 165.8km - may have looked routine for Bennett (31), but only because of the level we have seen him operate at year after year. He beat Arnaud Demare, one of the sprinters of the season in 2020, into 2nd place, though the Frenchman's Groupama-FDJ tried to dominate the finale. Bennett's victory on the day brought him the yellow jersey, in a race that was dominated by Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche in the 1980s. It was the first time an Irishman led the week-long French race since Stephen Roche held the then leader’s white jersey for two stages in 1990 before losing it to Miguel Indurain. Sean Kelly went on a seven-in-a-row run of overall wins in the 1980s in Paris Nice, the final victory of which was in 1988.
2 Sam Bennett | Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne win
This is not a race that cycling fans looks forward to each like a Grand Tour or a monument. But it's a major WorldTour race in spring in Belgium and that means it's a big one. To put it in perspective, for his win in March Bennett secured 300 UCI ranking points. Each one of his stage wins in Paris-Nice was worth 60 points and his stage wins in the Tour de France last year were worth 120 a piece; the green jersey win also worth 120. This was the first one-day WorldTour win of Bennett's career. Though we didn't know it at the time, it was also Bennett's the last major victory with Deceuninck-QuickStep under the lead-out skills of Michael Mørkøv; an iconic partnership operating within an iconic team. While Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) were 2nd and 3rd, once Bennett kicked for the line the gap between him and his rivals opened immediately and he won it very comfortably.
1 Dan Martin | Giro stage 17 win
For us, this was the best ride of the season by some way. Indeed, it may be years before any Irish rider manages to equal this performance on the grounds of both courage and pure athletic ability. Sam Bennett, of course, has been banging out big wins - including in the Grand Tours - for years now. But the quality of Martin's stage victory in May on tough climbs so deep into a Grand Tour is on a higher level. Martin (35) went away early in the stage - some 193km from Canazei to Sega di Ala - and did most of the work in that group. As the stage progressed, he leaned further into that responsibility. Once the final climb started - 11.5km averaging 9.6 per cent - he powered on alone and took it on. Behind him, race leader Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was faltering. With blood in the water, and a stage win up for grabs, Bernal's rivals - the strongest climbers in the race - went for broke. Simon Yates (BikeExchange) and João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) hit it hard, trying to distance Bernal further and also catch Martin. But the Irishman was on a charge and Yates and Almeida simply could not get him. It was a new finish climb for the Giro, but one that Martin had studied and worked out a pacing strategy for. He also switched to a climbing bike for the finale. This win had everything; strategy, bravery and, most of all, class to burn. This was the ride of the year by a mile.
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