A strong, youthful, Irish national team has been selected for next month's Rás na mBan, the premier women's stage race in Ireland which always attracts a quality international field.
Some of the riders selected for the national team are expected to also don the green of Ireland at the World Road Championships in Zurich later in September.
Lucy Benezet Minns (Tofauti Everyone Active), fresh from her recent junior European title win on the track, has been named in the team. She goes back to the race having been selected onto the Irish team last year only to crash on the opening stage and being forced to withdraw.
That was a major disappointment for her as she had just taken 4th place in the junior TT at the Worlds in Britain a few weeks earlier and would have relished the chance to test herself against the elite field at Rás na mBan in Kilkenny.
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She will get that chance again next month when she will be part of a national team that also includes sisters Aoife O'Brien (Cyclingteam Belco-Van Eyck) and Caoimhe O'Brien (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother-UK). They have been riding very well on the Belgian kermesse circuit in recent weeks.
Both riders have had the chance to hone their form on the always-hectic and competitive Belgian scene. And with the sprint they can pack whenever they get a run at the line, both O'Briens are definitely capable of a stage win, maybe more, in Kilkenny.
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They will be looking to take big results and given their progress in recent seasons, and the international experience they have gained, taking a stage win at Rás na mBan would represent seamless progression for them.
Aliyah Rafferty (Tofauti Everyone Active) is also on the Irish team for Kilkenny next month and she goes into this race as a first-year junior already with an elite Irish title in the bag.
She won the National Cyclocross Championships back in January and it will be interesting to see how she progresses when up against the international seniors.
Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) completes the Irish team for Rás na mBan and the junior rider already has plenty of experience representing Ireland.
Doherty is a very strong campaigner and, along with the other two juniors in the team, will gain invaluable experience next month.
Rás na mBan unfolds over six stages from September 4th to 8th.
