Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) this year cemented their positions as the new icons of Irish cycling and now both feature on very exclusive shortlists for the annual Team Ireland Olympic Sport Awards.
Given the season Irish cycling national teams have enjoyed, it is no surprise that Cycling Ireland is also in with a strong chance of winning the main high performance prize at the 2025 awards.
Just four athletes are nominated for the 'Male Athlete of the Year' and the 'Female Athlete of the Year', yet Healy and Gillespie are in that very exclusive club. That's a reflection of their success on their bikes, of course, but also the impact they have made beyond the cycling world.
Gillespie is up against three other top female stars in Olympic sports: Fiona Murtagh, rowing world champion this year in single sculls; Aoife O'Rourke, world boxing champion in 75kg this year; Kate O’Connor, silver medal winner in the heptathlon at the Worlds in 2025.
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Healy is up against US Masters winner Rory McIlory, rower Fintan McCarthy, who won gold and bronze at the Worlds and bronze at the Europeans, in the double sculls, this year, as well as Cian McPhillips, who was 4th in the 800m final at the Worlds in Tokyo.
You can vote in all of the categories by following this link, so get in and vote for these Irish riders.
Healy taking the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, after a nailbiting finish to stage 10 back in July, is shortlisted for 'Sporting Moment of the Year'. He is alongside Rory McIlroy for his win at the US Masters and Karen O'Connor, for her silver medal in the heptathlon at the Worlds.
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Cycling Ireland is also nominated for the 'High Performance Programme of the Year', alongside Swim Ireland and Rowing Ireland.
That's a real coup for the cycling governing body, which was not so long ago on the ropes over governance issues. But now it sits alongside rowing and swimming, among Ireland's most successful sports, for this accolade.
That Cycling Ireland high performance nomination comes in a year when Gillespie won the European title and, just last week, the World title in the elimination race while Katie George Dunlevy, and pilot Linda Kelly, won gold in both the TT and road race at the UCI Paracycling World Road Championships in Belgium.
Last month, Rónán Dunne followed up his recent UCI World Cup win with bronze at the UCI Downhill World Championships, in Valais, Switzerland, while riding for the national team.
Conor Murphy also won a stage at the UCI Junior Nations Cup race, Course de la Paix Juniors and his fellow junior, Max Fitzgerald, claimed a silver medal in the scratch race at the junior European Track Championships in Anadia, Portugal, in July.
After his Tour exploits, when riding for his trade team, Healy claimed a bronze for Ireland in the elite men's race at the UCI World Road Championships in Kilgali, Rwanda, last month, after arguably the hardest Worlds road race in living memory.
Just days later, the Irish team struck again at the UEC European Road Championships in France; Conor Murphy taking junior TT silver, Adam Rafferty securing U23 TT bronze and David Gaffney winning bronze in the junior men's road race.
All of those results by national team riders this year have combined to ensure Cycling Ireland is nominated for the overall high performance award, and is in with a real chance of winning it.
