Great year for the Irish: The Giro may have thrilled at home, but our pro men gave us plenty to cheer this season, with all looking like there's a lot more to come.
While the visit of the Giro d’Italia north and south in May will linger in the memory of Irish cycling fans for many years, there was massive disappointment when Ireland’s Dan Martin crashed out in the opening team time trial.
The Garmin-Sharp man was sidelined for a long period and only returned to racing at the national road championships in Westmeath in June.
But he’d go on to take his best ever Grand Tour finish at the Vuelta with 7th place and also claimed the Tour of Lombardy and a stage in the Tour of Beijing.
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Martin’s remarkable ability to bounce back was far from the only highlight for our professional riders during the road season.
Nicolas Roche took the queen stage of the Route du Sud , along with overall victory and also won the points classification.
The Tinkoff-Saxo man rode a very aggressive Giro, though a crash wrecked his chance of an assault on the general classification.
Philip Deignan had a fantastic first year in the colours of Team Sky, finishing on the podium on stages of the Giro and Tour de Suisse.
He excelled in the service of his team leaders all season, putting in the kind of rides that suggest he may get some big wins for himself next season and beyond.
Sam Bennett bagged four wins during his first campaign with NetApp-Endura and while he endured a testing end of season with some crashes and illness, it was a fantastic maiden campaign in the paid ranks for him.
Maria Griffin has put together this great short highlights film of the four top Irish riders in action through the year, though obviously others who rode very well are not featured here.
Maria Griffin's highlights film of our pro men abroad
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Dan Martin, Garmin-Sharp
An absolute screamer; Dan Martin takes the Tour of Lombardy for the second monument win of his career after a testing season during which he persevered and won big (Photo: Sirotti)
Nicolas Roche, Tinkoff-Sax0
Nice one: Nicolas Roche looking delighted as he finishes the Route du Sud final stage to wrap up overall victory back in June. He also won a fantastic hilly stage 2 with a lone escape and claimed the points classification overall.
Sam Bennett, NetApp-Endura
More to come: Sam Bennett has his arm raised in triumph having won a stage in the Bayern Rundfahrt professional stage race in Germany back in June.
Philip Deignan, Team Sky
Philip Deignan on the front of the breakaway and climbing his way to 3rd place on the mountains of Giro d'Italia stage 18 (Photo: Sirotti)
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