Very strong U23 and junior Irish teams have been named by Cycling Ireland for the World Road Championships in Bergen, Norway.
Irish team for World Road Championships
Cycling Ireland has named the Irish U23 and junior teams for the World Road Championships in Bergen, Norway.
In the U23 team are Mark Downey, Daire Feely, Michael O’Loughlin, Darragh O’Mahony, Adam Stenson and Matthew Teggart.
O’Loughlin will only ride the TT, while Downey will ride both the road race and TT. The others will ride the road race only.
The selection means Cycling Ireland has filled the full allocation of places the U23s were entitled to at these Worlds.
Cycling Ireland has gone with an U23 line-up very similar to that which took on the Tour de l'Avenir recently.
The only difference is that Ryan Reilly misses out this time and Adam Stenson (Bikeworx Celbridge) has been drafted in.
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Stenson has hit a rich vein of form of late. He enjoyed a very strong performance in the Suir Valley Three Day, where he won the climbers' classification.
And he then went on to win the John Beggs Memorial. He put on a great show in winning the National Road Series race solo having dropped the breakaway.
Downey has also been in good form of late; taking three top 10 places at the Tour de l'Avenir.
And in the same race Teggart got clear in the breakaway on stage 1. He then went on to hold the climbers' jersey for half the race.
National road race and TT champion O'Loughlin also rode very well in France. He very nearly won a stage, only to be caught on the line before illness and a crash forced him out of the race.
Like O'Loughlin, O'Mahony showed his class by riding so well in a breakaway at the Tour de l'Avenir. He pressed on alone from an escape and was only caught close to the finish.
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He has scored a number of very significant wins at home this year, including the Des Hanlon.
Daire Feeley was one of the best juniors in the country and is now based in Monaco.
His selection repeatedly onto the national team this year, and now making the Worlds, represents a seamless transition to the top of the Irish U23 ranks.
The course for the Worlds road race will suit both Teggart and Downey the most. They are likely to be the protected riders.
Teggart in particular is getting very solid preparation for the Worlds. He is part of the An Post-Chainreaction line-up for the Tour of Britain at present.
Cycling Ireland has also named a full complement of junior riders for the Worlds; three taking in the road race two riding the TT.
Luke Smith, Ben Walsh and PJ Doogan will ride the road race. And Walsh and Xeno Young will compete in the TT.
Young has already enjoyed significant success this season on the velodrome with silver medals in the individual pursuit at both the Worlds and Europeans.
Elite Irish team for World Road Championships
Cycling Ireland said the elite men’s and women’s teams for the Worlds would be named next Monday.
By that point races currently underway – Rás na mBan and the Tour of Britain – will have concluded.
The selectors are keeping a close eye on those races as results in both will likely influence the make-up of the elite selections.
Ireland is entitled to start six men in the road race and two in the TT. And in the women’s events Ireland can send three for the road race and two for the TT.
Meanwhile, no mention was made of junior women in today’s announcement. Ireland is entitled to select four junior women for the road race and two for the TT.
But it appears no junior women will be sent. The Worlds take place from September 17th to 24th.
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