Most of Martyn Irvine's biggest exploits have been on the track of late but he is no slouch on the road and it would not come as a surprise if he rode a Grand Tour. He is seen here leading the winning escape at the National Criterium Championships in Cork back in August as he was coming back from a broken femur sustained in March (Photo: Michael Meade)
Ireland will almost certainly have three riders - in the shape of Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan - on the start line of the Giro d’Italia next year when the first racing of the 2014 edition unfolds on Irish roads.
But the chances of a couple more Irish men being in the field have now been given a significant boost by the race organisers.
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Yesterday they unveiled a shortlist of eight teams in the running for the wildcard entries to the event and in that clutch of teams were Sam Bennett’s Net App Endura and Martyn Irvine’s Unitedhealthcare.
The race’s official twitter account yesterday shared an image containing the jerseys of the teams in the hunt for the wildcards, some six months out from the event. The tweet invited fans to offer up their thoughts on who they believed should make the final cut.
It appears at this stage that three or four teams from the eight-strong list will be offered the wild cards to ride the event, which kicks off on May 9th here and includes two stages in Belfast and a third from Armagh to Dublin.
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As well as Net App Endura and Unitedhealthcare, also on the list published yesterday were: Caja Rural-RGA; Team Colombia; Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox; IAM Cycling; MTN-Qhubeka and Novo Nordisk.
The latter squad counts Limerick man Stephen Clancy among its ranks. But as an U23 rider who will be in just his second year in the pro peloton next year, it seems unlikely he would be in the running for a Giro place.
However, Irvine is world scratch champion and by the time the race starts he will have completed his major track commitments for the season, culminating in the World Track Championships in Cali, Colombia, in late February and early March.
On the face of it, that would allow him some time to adjust to racing on the roads again and given his horsepower, for breakaways and in any lead-out train, he may get the nod from his team if it makes the Giro cut.
The news emerges on a day when Irvine sadly buries his father-in-law Joe McNally who died at the weekend.
Bennett will be riding his first season at Pro Continental level for Net App Endura next year, having moved up in recent weeks from An Post-Chainreaction. But his team management has already said they believe he can win races and they plan to field him in major events in his first year.
Bennett’s new directeur sportif, Enrico Poitschke said just days after signing him in October that the Irishman might ride next year’s Giro.
“If Sam shows good form, a start in a Grand Tour would not be too early,” said Poitschke. “That could be the Giro d’Italia, if we are there.”
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