Alice Sharpe: The UCI World Cycling Centre team is a place for developing riders, in all disciplines, to live the life of a professional cyclist in a bid to make a lot of progress quickly. And this year Irish international Alice Sharpe will ride in its colours.
Having impressed on both road and track in recent years Alice Sharpe has landed a place at the UCI World Cycling Centre team.
The Irish international will be based with the squad in Aigle, Switzerland, where the UCI is headquartered.
She has ridden for the UK-based Team Torelli road squad of late. And when riding for Ireland she has impressed; on the boards and in the peloton.
Alice Sharpe (24) is part of the Irish team pursuit line-up at present. It has made significant strides in recent months. The team has gone close to breaking the Irish record.
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Sharpe has ridden the European Championships with the line-up and also some of the recent UCI World Cup meetings.
Alice Sharpe in the green of Ireland. She will race in the colours of cycling's world governing body during the season ahead (Photo: Sean Rowe)
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She also competed for Ireland on the road at the Europeans and Worlds last year. And while she was a non-finisher at the Worlds in Innsbruck, she was among a group denied the opportunity to finish.
Sharpe was Ireland's sole representative at the Europeans in Glasgow last year. She rode very strongly to finish on an undulating course.
“I went straight to Switzerland after racing the Track World Cup in Hong Kong to meet all the people involved in the team and go through their tests,” Sharpe said of joining the UCI’s set-up.
“The facilities at the World Cycling Centre are amazing; anything you could think of, they have it.
“It’s a great opportunity and will be my first year racing at UCI level. It should be exciting so I’m looking forward to getting started properly in March.”
The team has been on the go for some time but this year is taking a step up with a full women’s programme on the road.
It specialises in taking on riders from nations without women’s pro teams. The aim is to qualify them for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It has signed nine riders for the year ahead.
The team will begin its season with a number of 1.1-ranked races in Europe and will also ride WorldTour events.
Alice Sharpe will ride the World Track Championships in Poland, which run from February 27th to March 2nd.
Her first race on the road with the UCI trade team will be the 1.1-ranked Le Samyn Des Dames in Belgium on March 5th.
2019 UCI Word Cycling Centre Team
- Agua Marina Espinola - 22, Paraguay
- Anastasiya Kolesava - 18, Belarus
- Alice Sharpe - 24, Ireland
- Desiet Kidane - 18, Eritrea
- Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru - 22, Ethiopia
- Fernanda Yapura - 20, Argentina
- Marlen Reüsseer - 27, Switzerland
- Marlies Medias Garcia - 26, Cuba
- Teniel Victoria Campbell - 20, Trinidad & Tobago
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