Cycling Ireland has outlined its programme of events for the national team set-up for the remainder of the year. The schedule includes racing and training camps for paracyclists, the Irish track team, elite road riders and development squads.
While the programme details outlined here have been released by Cycling Ireland, the association has said some additional events are currently in the planning stages and that these will be announced in due course.
Senior Road Programme
On the basis of the details supplied by Cycling Ireland, the only elite teams going away this year will be those bound for the Olympics and the World Championships. With no Irish team in the An Post Rás, it appears there will be no other opportunity for senior men to pull on an Irish jersey. There will be a three-man team at the Olympics for the road race, with one to ride the TT. The number of places for Irish men at the World Championships will not be known until much later in the year.
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Participation for senior women in the Olympics is still undetermined. Ireland has yet to qualify any riders for London. However, with Caroline Ryan and Siobhan Horgan clearly in very good form, it is possible that either or both could get enough UCI points to get into the top 100 in the world and qualify.
Both have said while they know this is going to be difficult, they are determined to give it their best shot. Aside from possible Olympic qualification, there will be a national team in the An Post Ras na mBan in September and women will also likely feature at the World Championships in Holland in September.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 29.07.2012 | Olympic Road Race | London |
| 01.08.2012 | Olympic Time Trial | London |
| 07.09.12 | An Post Ras na mBan | Ireland |
| 15.09.2012 | World Road & TT Championships | Holland |
Senior Track Programme
The senior track programme takes pretty much the same shape at the senior road programme, with the Olympics and the World Championships the main features. Three of the four fixtures – the World Cup meetings in Beijing and London and the World Championships – are already complete. This leaves just the Olympics still to come, with Martyn Irvine (omnium) the only Irish rider having qualified.
While Caroline Ryan won a bronze medal in the points race at the Worlds in Melbourne last weekend, that event is not in the Olympics. The Garda CC rider also took a whopping ten seconds off her national record in the individual pursuit, for a ninth place finish. However, that event also will not feature in the Olympics so she will not be on the Ireland team for the track at the Games in the Summer.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 20/01/2012 | World Cup – Beijing | Beijing |
| 17/02/2012 | World Cup – London | London |
| 04/04/2012 | World Track Champs | Melbourne |
| 02/08/2012 | Olympics 2012 | London |
Paracycling
This part of the sport has been the most successful in recent years in terms of meeting criteria for high performance funding. As a result, there are more paracyclists now funded than any category of rider, with that funding coming from the bodies that fund Cycling Ireland rather than association itself. As a result, the paracyclists’ programme for the remainder of the season is fuller than for any other category.
The first big event of the year for the paracyclists, the World Championships in LA are already over. This leaves the Paralympics as the major event remaining. This takes place in London in August.
While the team for the Paralympics has not yet been named, Ireland has secured seven places.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10/12/11 | Training camp | Majorca |
| 06/01/12 | Track Training camp | Majorca |
| 30/01/12 | Pre Track Worlds Camp | Los Angles |
| 07/02/12 | 2011 Track World Championships | Los Angles |
| 12/04/12 | PI Training camp | Limerick, |
| 30/04/12 | Training Camp | Majorca |
| 28/05/12 | Road World Cup Italy | Rome |
| 11/06/12 | Road World Cup - Segovia, Spain | Segovia, |
| 18/06/12 | Training at Brans Hatch | London |
| 21/06/12 | National Championships Track & Road | Clonmel |
| 05/08/12 | Track Training Camp | Majorca |
| 28/06/12 | SINI Pre-Olympic Camp | Belfast |
| 16/07/12 | PI Training camp | Limerick |
| 16/08/12 | Portugal Holding Camp | Portugal |
| 27/08/12 | Paralympics London | London |
| Various | Development Programme Events (TBC) | Various |
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U23 Programme
The team is down to ride just two Nations Cup events, the cornerstone world series for riders in this category. The first of those, Tour de Picarde, is taking place in France today (Wednesday), with the ZLM Tour in Holland on Saturday. Following those races, the next assignment is the Tour of Ulster next month, with the European Road Race Championships in Holland in June.
Once those races are complete the next assignment is the World Road Race Championships in Holland in September. The Irish riders must score ranking points to qualify for that. While participation is not guaranteed, the team has qualified for the Worlds in recent years.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 11/04/2012 | Tour de Picarde U23 (Nations Cup) | France |
| 14/04/2012 | ZLM Tour U23 (Nations Cup) | Holland |
| 05/05/2012 | Tour of Ulster (with Juniors) | Dungannon |
| 01/06/2012 | European Racing/Training | Europe |
| 09/08/2012 | European U23 Road Championships | Holland |
| 15/09/2012 | Road Worlds RR & TT * | Holland |
* Pending qualification
Junior Programme
The European Road Race Championships and World Championships, both in Holland in August and September respectively, and the Junior Tour in July are the only races where a full Irish team will line out. There was a selection in the An Post Gorey Three-Day last weekend and another is planned for the Tour of Ulster next month, but these are development teams rather than full international selections.
Aside for those races, Cycling Ireland has said there will be some racing and training opportunities in Europe during the summer months, though the details of these have yet to be confirmed.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 07/04/12 | An Post Gorey 3 Day | Gorey |
| 01/05/12 | Tour of Ulster (with U23s) | Dungannon |
| Summer | Summer European Racing / Training | Europe |
| 10/07/2012 | Junior Tour of Ireland | Castlebar |
| 09/08/2012 | Junior European Road & TT Champs | Holland |
| 01/09/2012 | National Track Championships | Dublin |
| 15.09.2012 | Junior World Road Championships | Holland |
Youth Talent Programme
Cycling Ireland in recent months launched its Talent Team 2020 concept and riders will be picked from that set-up to ride on teams for both domestic and international competitions. The first assignment of the year was the Youth Tour of Scotland last weekend – where Mark Downey took the KOH title. The next competitive event is in July when there will be racing opportunities in Belgium, to be followed in August by the Mayo Youth Tour and the Tour of Wales in September.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Feb-12 | TT2020 Track Day - Sundrive | Ireland |
| Apr-12 | Youth Tour of Scotland | Scotland |
| Apr-12 | TT2020 Track Day Orangefield | Belfast |
| Jun-12 | Newport Velodrome Wales | Wales |
| Jul-12 | Road & Track Training & Competition Camp Belgium | Belgium |
| Aug-12 | Mayo Youth Tour Irish U16 Team | Ireland |
| Aug-12 | Mayo Youth Tour Irish U15 Team | Ireland |
| Sep-12 | Youth Tour of Wales | Wales |
| Oct-12 | TT2020 Workshop | Ireland |
| Dec-12 | TT2020 Training Day | Ireland |
BMX
Kelvin Batey will represent Ireland in a series of UK events culminating in the BMX World Championships in Birmingham at the end of May, where he will look to secure an Olympic place. He has been performing well in major races in the UK in recent months and has told stickybottle he believes (touch wood!) he will qualify for the Olympics.
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