National TT Champ, Olivia Dillon starts at 2.15pm today, Tuesday, at the Worlds
Treble Olympian David McCann and 2012 World Track Championships bronze medallist Caroline Ryan have both withdrawn from the Ireland team for the World Road Race Championships underway this week in Valkenburg, Holland.
McCann said in the immediate aftermath of the Olympics that he was hoping to be picked for the Worlds, but only if he felt he had the form to give a good account of himself.
He continued to train well after London and gained selection for the Worlds TT along with national TT champion Michael Hutchinson.
However, while both were due to ride the 45.7km test tomorrow, Wednesday, McCann was involved in a training accident three weeks ago and has been unable to travel.
A car pulled out on him at a roundabout and knocked him off his bike, his first crash with a vehicle in his 25-year career. He suffered a badly bruised wrist and initially thought it was broken.
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However, while X-Rays revealed that was not the case, the bruising on the wrist and on his shoulder and ribs, saw him sidelined from training completely for a few weeks, with the rib injury proving most problematic.
He has begun riding again in recent days but his crash was too close to the Worlds and his injuries too severe to allow him compete tomorrow.
Stickybottle understands Hutchinson will now be Ireland’s sole representative in the elite men’s TT.
Caroline Ryan has had an illness-hit couple of months, though it was felt she would be in a position to ride the elite women’s TT at the Worlds, which takes place today.
A member of An Garda Siochana, she rode the European Police Championships in France last weekend where she was second in the TT but did not ride the road race.
Stickybottle understands that because her training has been interrupted of late, while she felt she had the form to compete last weekend she took the view that the massive step up from that level to a World Championships would be too much and so she withdrew earlier this month.
She had been selected with national TT champion Olivia Dillon for the elite women’s 24.1km test in Valkenburg this afternoon.
US-based Dillon will now be Ireland’s sole representative in that race. She rolls down the starting ramp at 2.15pm Irish time.
As well as winning the national TT crown and taking a bronze medal in the national road race championships, Dillon has been in very good form in the US this year where she rides for leading team (NOW & Novartis for MS).
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