Philip Lavery & Sam Bennett at the 2011 U23 Worlds in Copenhagen; Ireland needs more UCI points to qualify for Valkenburg 2012 (Photo: Gary McIlroy)
By Graham Healy
This Saturday an Irish team will be the only national selection to take part in the Kreiz Breizh Elites three-day stage race in Brittany, France. They will line up alongside the top French amateur teams, in addition to seven UCI Continental and Pro Continental teams, including Bretagne Schuller and Node 4 Giordana.
Due to Node 4 being invited to the race, Philip Lavery could not be considered for selection for the Irish team. He has however been selected for his trade team, meaning there will be seven Irishmen on the start line.
Of those, five are U23 riders and will be very much hunting for more UCI points needed to qualify the Ireland U23s a team in the World Championships in Holland in September.
Advertisement
Ireland was 26th ranked nation in Europe when the last U23 nations’ rankings were published last month, with 26 teams to qualify for the Worlds.
Related News
Since then, Lavery has been second in a UCI 1.2 race in France, which secured four more points for Ireland and should keep us in the top 26 when the next U23 rankings are published in coming days.
However, it is likely that some of the nations just behind Ireland will gain more points before the Worlds qualification cut off date on August 15th. It means the Irish U23s badly need to score some more points of their own to guarantee a ride for themselves at the Worlds.
The Irish team selected for the French three-day starting on Saturday is made up of U23 and elite riders including: Ronan McLaughlin, Sam Bennett, Sean Downey, Jack Wilson, Aaron Buggle and Peter Hawkins.
McLaughlin and Hawkins are the two elite riders in the team and will be working to help the four U23s to get those badly needed points.
The UCI 2.2 race in France’s cycling heartland consists of four stages over three days, including a 12km TT. Despite having no major climbs, none of the three road stages could be described as flat.
On the third stage, the riders will have to face the Mur de Bretagne, where Cadel Evans won a stage of the Tour de France last year. And the last stage will also feature a climb on the finishing circuit.
In the past, riders like Rein Taaramae, Biel Kadri, Jeremy Roy and Lloyd Mondory have all performed well here, so a good result can help a rider progress up the ranks.
Worlds qualification aside, the Irish U23 riders will be hopeful of a good performance here as not long afterwards they will be compete in the European Championships in Zeeland (Netherlands) which start on the 9th of August.
Topics
