An Irish team is being sent to Tour de l'Avenir - a welcome reversal of the initial decision not to send a selection to the race this year - after a cash injection was made by Sport Ireland into Cycling Ireland's coffers, though it was not announced at the time.
At the start of the season, the U23 riders were told by Cycling Ireland high performance director, Iain Dyer, that no team would be sent to Tour de l'Avenir based on the financial position of the federation at the time. However, Dyer also told the riders Cycling Ireland would continue to explore possible avenues for other funds.
Stickybottle reported earlier this month a decision had been made to send an Irish team to the race after all, a very welcome development and a great opportunity for the emerging riders in line for selection.
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Sport Ireland awarded Cycling Ireland a sum of money known as 'impact funding', which it sometimes offers to national governing bodies - as a top-up to baseline high performance funding - for additional projects to improve performance.
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Sport Ireland says it offers 'impact awards' as "additional investment into priority or medal competitive sports as part of their high performance strategy mandate". Cycling Ireland has now confirmed to stickybottle an 'impact award' has made the Tour de l'Avenir possible this season.
"The one-off funding stream is available to initiatives which have a clear link to the objectives contained in the high performance strategy," Sport Ireland says of its impact awards. "Performance outcomes and/or system improvements were key factors in determining funding."
Sport Ireland also says it provides the funds "when it can be sufficiently demonstrated" that it would "advance" a national governing body's high performance programme "leading to improved results".
Tour de l'Avenir takes places this year from August 20th to 27th, with the race regarded as the U23 Tour de France.
