Irish road race, TT teams unveiled for UCI World Championships, Glasgow | Sticky Bottle

*It's been a long time since we've seen Lara Gillespie in an Irish team for the World Road Championships, but now she's back for Glasgow*

The Irish road team has been unveiled for the UCI World Championships in Glasgow next month. A total of 27 slots - in road races and TTs - have been filled by the selectors for the elite, U23 and junior men's and women's title races.

Sam Bennett is the stand-out name in the men's road race team, though given the nature of the course and recent form it is perhaps Ben Healy who may have a better chance of a medal in Glasgow. Rás Tailteann winner, Dillon Corkery, and recent Tour de Beauce stage winner, Cormac Mcgeough, are set to make their debut in an elite Worlds road race.

The elite men's road race team also features long-established senior internationals Ryan Mullen and Rory Townsend, while Healy and national TT champion Mullen will represent Ireland in the elite men's TT.

In the elite women's category, a really strong trio of Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe and Megan Armitage have been picked for the road race. That road race is a combined elite and U23 race, with Gillespie eligible for the U23 medals and going into these championships after taking two gold medals at the U23 European Track Championships in Portugal.

Jamie Meehan (right) just gets the better of Darren Rafferty (left) in the sprint for the U23 gold and silver medals at the recent National Road Race Championships in Co Tyrone last month and now both are in the Irish team for Glasgow (Photo: Bryan Keane-Inpho)

National TT champion Kelly Murphy is the sole rider for Ireland in the elite women's TT and is a veteran of previous teams at the Worlds and Europeans.

In the U23 men's category, the road race team is comprised of Darren Rafferty, Odhran Doogan, Dean Harvey, Aaron Wade and Jamie Meehan. That's a very strong team, though Kevin McCambridge is a notable name not on that list. Archie Ryan's injury-interrupted season mean's he was not under consideration for selection.

Rafferty is the stand-out name in that team, especially after his overall win last weekend at Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc and after securing a two-year contract with EF Education-EasyPost starting next season. Rafferty is a medal contender in the road race, and could also do damage in the U23 TT, where he and Harvey are the riders picked for Ireland.

In the junior ranks, Seth Dunwoody and Liam O'Brien are selected for the men's road race, weeks after finishing 1st and 2nd in the junior road race at the National Road Championships. O'Brien is also picked for the junior men's TT while Adam Rafferty - the national junior TT champion - also gets the nod for the junior men's TT.

Lucy Benezet Minns and Aine Doherty are picked for the junior women's road race and both are also the selected riders for the junior TT. They were 1st and 2nd in both events at the recent National Road Championships in Co Tyrone.

More to come.