An interesting Irish elite road race shortlist has been named for the European Elite Road and Track Championships in Glasgow in August. It includes Dan Martin, above, and Philip Deignan (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Irish team shortlists for Euro Road, Track Champs
Cycling Ireland has named the Irish team shortlists for the European Elite Road and Track Championships in Scotland next month.
In the men’s road race Ireland is eligible to enter six riders. Ten riders are on the shortlist, including some of our biggest names.
The Aqua Blue Sport duo of new national elite champion Conor Dunne and the ever-rising Eddie Dunbar are among the 10 men named.
Also on the list for the road race are three WorldTour men; Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Philip Deignan (Team Sky) and Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo).
And the remainder are very strong Continental riders. Team Wiggins pairing Matt Teggart and Mark Downey get the nod though, like Dunbar, they are still U23 riders.
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Robert Jon McCarthy, the JLT Condor rider who won a Rás stage, is also named; as is the Holdsworth pair of Damien Shaw and Sean McKenna.
There are three riders named for the two men’s TT slots available to Ireland. The three are Mullen and Dunbar along with Marcus Christie (SBR Performance).
Ryan Mullen is named for road and TT, with Philip Deignan in the mix for the road.
In the women’s road events for the Europeans, the only certainty at this point is the TT team.
One of the two places available to Ireland goes to national TT champion Kelly Murphy (Chapter 2).
Also named is Eileen Burns, the Ballymena Road Club rider who was Irish champion last year. She also took silver at the 2018 championships last Thursday.
For the women’s road race, only one place is available to Ireland. And it might be filled by any of the Irish women, riding the TT or track in Glasgow.
It means Burns or Murphy may ride the road race as well as the TT. Or the road place could go to one of the track riders, named below.
In the track events, Ireland will ride the men’s and women’s Madison.
It is a two-rider event but three riders have been named for the men and women. It means one man and one woman will miss out.
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Lydia Boylan and Lydia Gurley as well as Mark Downey and Felix English are named in the Madison panels. But so are Marc Potts and Shannon McCurley.
The men’s Madison panel is Downey, Felix English and Marc Potts. And the three women on that panel are Lydia Boylan, Lydia Gurley and Shannon McCurley.
Robyn Stewart rides the women’s sprint. And in the four-rider pursuit event, six women are shortlisted.
They are: Imogen Cotter, Mia Griffin, Hillary Hughes, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe, and Orla Walsh. It means two of those will miss out.
Furthermore, Cycling Ireland said some of these six women will take part in some of the other track cycling events.
Those riders, and the races they will compete in, will be named closer to the competition.
The elite European Road and Track Championships take place in Glasgow between August 2nd and 12th.
It is the first time the elite track and road events will take place in the same place at the same time.
While the TT and road race courses are undulating, the inclines are not significant.
However, while it may not be a huge factor in the TT, the ramps on the road course will become more significant as the laps pass.
Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) took bronze in the elite TT last year. He will be one of the hot favourites for gold this time around.
Obviously in the elite selection a number of final-year U23s are named, yet Darnell Moore is absent from the line-up.
Moore was 2nd in the combined elite and U23 race at the National Road Race Championships yesterday. And that meant he won the U23 title.
While his selection might have been expected considering other U23s are named, he is not in his final year at U23 level.
Under the rules of the Euros, if Moore rode the elite race this year he would not be eligible for next year’s U23 event.
It means he is likely to be named for the Euros U23 team when it is unveiled in coming days. And that would mean he could ride that race again next year.
The European U23 and junior road championships take place in the Czech Republic between July 12th and 15th.
Similarly, national women's road race champion Eve McCrystal, who was also third in the nationals TT, is not named for Glasgow.
However, McCrystal rides internationally as a sighted pilot in the Irish paracycling team.
And if she were to compete in an elite championships she would not be eligible to ride paracycling events.
- This piece has been amended to correct the number of riders Ireland has qualified in the women's road race; one.
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