Some of
Ireland’s top track cyclists may be preparing for the Olympic Games but a very
strong national team is still being assembled for the next UCI World Cup
meeting in Russia.
The Irish team pursuiters, who have made significant progress in recent years, will be in action after a period honing their skills in Mallorca.
JB Murphy,
already a decorated rider for Ireland despite his youth, will also be in action
in St Petersburg, while Orla Walsh gets the nod for the sprint events.
The Irish team pursuit line-up is now a really impressive group and includes former European junior champion and Worlds medalist Lara Gillespie (20) as well last year’s U23 Europeans medal winner Mia Griffin (22).
Also in the
line-up is the most experienced Irish rider currently racing in the pro
peloton, Alice Sharpe (27). The former Irish road race champion and dual track
and road international is now turning her attention to the velodrome after a
great run of races on the road in Europe in the spring.
Advertisement
And completing the line-up is Kelly Murphy (31); the two-time Irish elite TT champion’s powerful engine adding real firepower to the team.
Related News
These are the four riders who broke the Irish national record several times over the last couple of seasons and had also begun progressing to the next round of World Cups before the pandemic hit.
All four Irish women will be looking to show what they can do as a team when the racing gets underway in St Petersburg on Friday.
JB Murphy (21) is the sole Irish representative in the endurance events and he comes to this World Cup meeting having already enjoyed very strong results at international level.
When the Irish riders returned to international track racing back in April, the Kildare man was straight out of the traps to take victory in the U23 scratch race at the Belgian International in Gent, where he was also 3rd in the points race.
Despite having very limited track experience as a junior,
Murphy was selected for the track Europeans and Worlds and won medals in both;
bronze in the Worlds points race and silver in the Europeans elimination race.
Walsh (32) goes into the World Cup to ride the sprint events; a discipline she has turned to after initially starting out as a pursuit rider and then also racing endurance for a period.
She took two national titles last year, in the 500m TT and in the sprint, and the World Cup will offer her a valuable opportunity to gauge herself against international sprinters.
Topics
