Irish elite and U23 road race champion, Ben Healy, spearheads a strong Irish team in the Tour de l‘Avenir, known as the U23 Tour de France.
Now riding with the Trinity Racing Continental team,
Healy (20) swaps his trade team colours for the Irish kit next week and is accompanied
by a strong selection of riders who can also target results of their own.
Kevin McCambridge (19) is also in the team along with
Liam Curley (21), Adam Ward (20), Dillon Corkery (22) and JB Murphy (21).
McCambridge, who is based in France this year, is a very strong climber and a top rider against the watch. The youngest member of the Irish team, if he is in form he can impress.
Curley has been riding strongly of late, taking the final stage and the overall at the Newcastle West Stage Race the weekend before last. He also comes into the event with the L'Etoile d'Or U23 Nations Cup stage race in his legs.
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Corkery has been in France for most of the last two seasons and he rode strongly at Kreiz Breizh Elites (2.2) at the end of last month. A former national criterium champion, he looks like he has the legs at present to take a result and will be buoyed by moving up to EvoPro Racing for the remainder of this season.
Ward, the former Irish junior road race champion, has gotten plenty of international racing of late as he has been based in Spain this year. He has also been on international duty in recent weeks, at both L'Etoile d'Or and Kreiz Breizh Elites, and he could get a result in France, especially in a sprint from a breakaway.
Murphy is one to watch; the dual road and track
international having pulled fantastic results out of the bag on the biggest
stages in the past, including medaling on the track as a junior at both the
Europeans and the Worlds. Having performed more than solidly at L'Etoile d'Or
last month, he can make an impact in France.
Healy (20) has already ridden Tour de l’Avenir and two
years ago became the youngest ever winner of a stage in the history of the event.
Back then he was riding for a UCI composite team as there was no Irish national team in the race. And with the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the pandemic, this year’s races represents the first time since 2018 there is an Irish team in Tour de l'Avenir.
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