Philip Lavery & Sam Bennett at the 2011 U23 Worlds in Copenhagen; Ireland needs more UCI points to qualify for Valkenburg 2012 (Photo: Gary McIlroy)
The Irish U23 team has slipped down the UCI European rankings and will need to score more points to qualify any riders for the U23 World Road Race Championships in Valkenburg, Holland, in September.
Ireland had been as high as 18th in the rankings in recent weeks but a large number of nations have now begun to score points and have moved ahead of the Irish. This has left Ireland in 26th position of the 34 countries that have so far scored points. The new rankings were published today, Wednesday.
Ireland must be in the top 26 nations by the cut off date of August 15th in order to qualify riders for the U23 Worlds.
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Nations who fill the first 15 slots in the rankings on August 15th will get to start five riders in the U23 Worlds road race. Those ranked 16th to 20th get to start four riders, while any nations ranked 21st to 26th get to start three riders.
The ranking of 26th nation, which Ireland currently occupies, is the last slot for qualifying starters at the Worlds.
Ireland could also have qualified riders for the Worlds via the Nations Cup, but did not score any points in that competition this year in the two races Irish teams rode.
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It means if Ireland slips just one more place down the UCI European rankings to 27th or lower, there will be no U23 Irish team on the start line in Valkenburg.
Because some of the teams currently behind Ireland are likely to score more points, it seems Irish riders must also score at least some additional points in the weeks ahead in order to maintain our position in the top 26 nations that qualify for the Worlds.
Aware of the need to score more points, Cycling Ireland has organised for a six-man Irish team to ride the UCI 2.2 Kreiz Breizh stage race in France from July 28th to 30th. That team will be made up of six riders; four U23s and two elites.
The team is being finalised at present, with the French three-day also doubling as preparation for the U23 European Road Race Championships in Holland in August.
The U23 Europeans will see a seven-man team ride the road race and three riders take in the TT.
Ireland can also name a male junior team for the European Champs road race and TT and a women’s team for the road race and time trial, both at U23 and junior level. A male junior team and a women’s team is expected to be sent along with the U23 male team.
U23 UCI Europe Tour Rankings
1 ITALY 887.6
2 NETHERLANDS 791
3 BELGIUM 566
4 FRANCE 450
5 GERMANY 341.63
6 LATVIA 293
7 DENMARK 277
8 RUSSIA 262
9 LUXEMBOURG 259
10 AUSTRIA 168
11 NORWAY 166
12 SLOVENIA 133
13 SWEDEN 125
14 MOLDOVA 119
15 CZECH REPUBLIC 93
15 ISRAEL 93
17 POLAND 92
18 BELARUS 91
19 SWITZERLAND 81
20 TURKEY 66
21 SERBIA 64
22 GREECE 60
22 UKRAINE 60
24 GREAT BRITAIN 57
25 SLOVAKIA 50
26 IRELAND 49
27 GEORGIA 43
28 ROMANIA 30
29 SPAIN 28
30 ESTONIA 13
31 HUNGARY 8
31 PORTUGAL 8
33 AZERBAIJAN 6.5
34 LITHUANIA 2
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