Cycling Ireland has named two riders in the Irish national team to take on the only UCI Track Nations Cup meeting of the year, which will be battled out this week in Konya, Turkey.
The two selected are Erin Creighton and Aoife O'Brien, both young emerging athletes for Ireland who have already ridden the European Track Championships, in Belgium, this year, including the team pursuit.
Cycling Ireland track head coach, Dan Henchy, said there would be a strong international field in Turkey - taking place before the next Olympic qualification cycle gets underway - and it should be a vital development opportunity for O'Brien and Creighton.
“There will only be one round of the Nations Cup series this year and the event will be held in another new venue for us in Konya, Turkey. We have two riders targeting the bunch races," he confirmed.
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"Aoife will race the elimination race after a strong showing in the same event in Grenchen before Christmas, and Erin will make her Nations Cup omnium debut following on from a strong top 10 showing at last year’s U23 Euros.
"The velodrome in Konya sits just over 1000m above sea level so we’re hopeful of some fast times and it looks like there’ll be a strong international field, so it presents an ideal opportunity for us to continue building the strength in depth of our women’s track endurance squad.”
O'Brien and Creighton were part of a new-look team pursuit line-up at the Europeans that finished 8th in the event, with Creighton also riding the 1km TT and just coming up short of a place in the final.
Creighton was also a team pursuit traveling reserve at the Paris Olympics last summer. O’Brien will compete in the elimination race in Turkey on Friday while Creighton will take on the omnium on Sunday.
