Cycling Ireland has unveiled a six-rider longlist for selection onto the Irish team for the UCI World Road Championships in September in Rwanda. The national governing body had previously announced it was only considering sending an elite men's team.
That decision was made as the Worlds is an unusual course this year, very much suited to climbers, and sending a team to Rwanda involves significant expenditure. The road Worlds and Europeans also take place this season in quick succession and national teams will be selected from other categories for the Europeans.
Though the course in Rwanda is one for climbers, some of the non-climbers among the Irish pro ranks at present are part of the long list, which will be trimmed back to the selected team in due course. However, this group could also be added to with other riders before the final selection is made.
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Those riders longlisted are:
- Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla)
- Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
- Ryan Mullen (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe)
- Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost)
- Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost)
- Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team)
It is likely, considering his record in one-day races, that the team will be built around Ben Healy leading the effort, though Eddie Dunbar's two stage wins at La Vuelta last year, and his general climbing talents, also make him a stand-out name on the longlist.
Cycling Ireland's high performance director, Iain Dyer, said the publication of a longlist is the latest step in a long process for selecting the team, which began with ride consultation immediately the Worlds route was announced.
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"We are lucky to have Irish riders consistently demonstrating their World Class ability over the last couple of years with very strong World Championship, Olympic, one-day classic and Grand Tour performances in 2024 and this season," he said.
"With this level of motivation and commitment to race for Ireland matched with the capacity to compete for podium results, we have been happy to support our Athletes ambition and target success in Rwanda.
"We recognised some time ago that with the location, altitude and climate we would need to be on the front foot with plans, logistics and performance minded strategies if we were to give ourselves the best chance in Rwanda.
"In order to do that, creating a long list early and engaging in a dialogue with the squad regarding everything from feeding strategies to travel dates and so on would enable us to plan well.
“There are special provisions in the selection policy to facilitate this which effectively creates a viable long list of potential athletes, and enables us to work with the group to do everything we can to make the event a success.
"There is scope in exceptional circumstances to broaden this group if needed, but these are the eligible riders at this stage and the team is looking forward to working with them towards the event.”
