The Irish team for the European Road Championships, which get underway in the Netherlands tomorrow, has suffered another couple of withdrawals; this time from the men's elite and U23 road race teams.
The disappointing news follows the forced withdrawal of Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) through illness, Megan Armitage (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team) through concussion-related issues and Erin Creighton (McConvey Cycles) through crash injuries.
Unfortunately the team is further trimmed back as Ryan Mullen (Bora-hansgrohe) has been forced out of the men's road race through personal issues and Archie Ryan (Jumbo Visma Development) is out of the men's U23 road race due to a late and unexpected clash with trade team commitments.
That means while Fiona Mangan (Cynisca Cycling) was brought into the Irish team to replace Armitage in the women's road race, neither Bennett nor Mullen will be replaced in the men's road race.
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Cycling Ireland has said it is now too late to find replacements. Ireland will compete in that event with just two riders - Dillon Corkery (CC Étupes) and Rory Townsend (Bolton Equities Black Spoke). That is especially disappointing for Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC), who has ridden the Europeans before and was willing and ready to step into the road race if the call came from Cycling Ireland.
Similarly, Ryan will not be replaced in the men's U23 road race and there will also be nobody added to the U23 women's road race team to replace Creighton. Mullen said he was very disappointed to miss the road race, he would still ride the TT at the Europeans.
"Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances arising, I have had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from the European championships road race," Mullen said in a statement issued by Cycling Ireland. "I will only race the time trial this week. I would like to thank Cycling Ireland for giving me the opportunity to race and for their understanding of my situation.
"It's really encouraging to see so many young and upcoming riders here as part of the team. The European championships are a fantastic event which has provided me with great opportunities to perform over the years and it's exciting to see a strong bunch of Irish riders that have the chance to show their best in the green jersey."
Cycling said "due to the late nature of Bennett and Mullen's withdrawal from the elite men's road race, the riders could not be replaced". The late nature of Ryan's withdrawal was also cited for not replacing him. Cycling Ireland added had "respected" Armitage's decision to withdraw from the squad - due to her concussion suffered several weeks ago, which she must carefully manage. It added as no reserves with nominated for U23 women's road race, Creighton could not be replaced for that.
