The 2021 road racing campaign was again delayed by Covid-19, but once we got going there were fantastic performances from Irish road riders at home and abroad all season long.
Stickybottle's breakthrough riders of the year - 113 of them in all - are aged 17 to 28 years, male and female. Each of them has taken a big step forward in their career this year, for different reasons.
We profile the 13 riders we believe broke through this year and why. These are the athletes who should go on to become the next generation of top performers.
Megan Armitage
The 25-year-old from Birr in Co Offaly was arguably Irish cycling's breakthrough rider of the year. A complete unknown last season, when she raced a little, Armitage went to Europe this year and got stuck in. She was willing and able to attack when riding against the pros and even took a win - at Emptinne GP Roland Warnon in Wallonie in August - against professional opposition. She made her international debut at Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames in July, where she was active off the front. Worlds and Europeans selection followed and Armitage also took 2nd in the elite women's race at the National Road Championships. Based on the evidence so far, she looks like a natural on the bike. She has been willing to have a go against any opposition.
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Conor Murnane
There was a period during the summer when Conor Murnane could do no wrong. Murnane's sprinting ability has been clear for a number of years as he secured several victories at the Mondello Series last year and in 2019. His 11th place in the elite race at the National Road Championships in 2020 went unnoticed at the time, but it was an indication he had the engine to match his finishing kick. This year his cycling career took a massive jump forward. In August he won a round of the Mondello Series on a Tuesday night, went to Limerick two days later and won the elite National Criterium Championships before following up that weekend with victory in the very challenging Galway Classic. Murnane also took a stage of the Newcastle West Stage Race this year and won the Peter Bidwell Memorial among a string of other top results. Having established himself as one of the best riders on the domestic scene this year, nobody will want to bring him to the line next season. (Photo by Donal Kelly)
Dean Harvey
Out of the VC Glendale club in Belfast, Dean Harvey can do it all and do it well, whether it's road, cyclocross or MTB. The 18-year-old is on the move to Spellman Dublin Port for next season and is fancied to establish himself very quickly in the A1 peloton. This year he topped the Cycling Ireland junior rankings, for the second time, and also won the junior National Road Series. His victory in the Newcastle West Stage Race was perhaps his most impressive ride; claiming the opening stage TT and then the first road stage, solo the following day. Harvey was also 2nd in the junior road race at the National Road Championships. He was selected onto the Irish team for the road Europeans and Worlds. He has already taken an elite win on the Irish cyclocross scene this season and next year on the road look to do the same, with U23 international selection also likely. (Photo by Bryan Keane-Inpho)
Ben Healy
While he had hit the heights before 2021, Ben Healy has still broken through in one major way this year; securing a WorldTour contract. Having just turned 21-years-old in September, Healy will ride for EF Education Nippo next season, thus making the kind of step up that very few Irish riders ever manage. Illness ruined his tilt at the Worlds, though he still rode both the U23 TT and road race in Belgium. Earlier in the season he won the final stage at the Baby Giro after taking 2nd and 3rd on stages, before finishing 12th in the overall. But the undoubted high point of his season was signing for a WorldTour team; a massive breakthrough juncture in the career of any young rider. He is an incredibly exciting prospect for Ireland. (Photo by Toby Watson)
Fiona Mangan
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A bit like the aforementioned Megan Armitage, Fiona Mangan pretty much came from nowhere this year and has quickly established herself as one of the best riders in the country. The 25-year-old from Limerick has already made her international debut; riding very strong at Rás na mBan. While the Irish team she was part of worked for Alice Sharpe, Mangan still finished 12 overall. She also claimed the final yellow jersey at the Newcastle West Stage Race, winning three of the four stages along the way and also taking the points classification. She claimed the overall win at the Cycling Ireland National Road Season to cap a remarkable year of progress. Having already lived and raced in Spain for a brief period, she can expect more European racing next year and more international selection. (Photo by Sean Rowe)
JB Murphy
Co Kildare rider JB Murphy has been one of the real achievers of Irish cycling in recent years. A winner of medals in his junior days on the track at the Worlds and Europeans, Murphy has also taken countless wins on the domestic road racing scene as a junior and U23 rider. Now aged 22 years, Murphy has also ridden the Nations Cup for Ireland and was part of the national team this year at Tour de l'Avenir. But while he did not exactly come from nowhere this year, the scale of one of his results made 2021 a breakthrough season for him. At the elite European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland, he took a bronze medal in the scratch race with a very strong ride; joining an exclusive group of Irish cyclists to medal at an elite Europeans. (Photo by Cassandra Donne)
Imogen Cotter
Like Ben Healy, Imogen Cotter had shown real class before this year, but in securing a pro contract for 2022 she has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2021. There was also the not-so-small matter of winning the elite road race at the National Road Championships in Co Wicklow. That result confirmed her talent and landed her the big career achievement she had been searching for. Cotter did not take up cycling until she was well into her 20s and goes pro next year, with Plantur-Pura, at the age of 28 years. Hers was already a remarkable story before this year, but her success in the nationals and in getting her pro deal made her one of Ireland's breakthrough athletes of the year. (Photo by Bryan Keane-Inpho)
Jamie Meehan
Another teenager from Belfast's VC Glendale outfit now destined for Spellman Dublin Port, some of Jamie Meehan's best achievements this year suggest he's a rider for the big occasions and hardest roads. While he punctured early in the junior race at the National Road Championships and was forced into a chase, he got back in and back to the head of the race before going on to take bronze. He also won the junior John Beggs Memorial and was 3rd in the Shay Elliott; taking the climbers' award on the day. With nationals winner Darren Rafferty and runner-up Dean Harvey so dominant this year, they stole the headlines on the day. But Meehan's bronze medal, on such a hard day, underline an emerging talent we should see plenty more of in the harder races next year. (Photo by Sean Rowe)
Darren Rafferty
Darren Rafferty left home in Co Tyrone this year for France and after less than two months in Europe had effectively announced himself to the international cycling community. The 18-year-old competed in the colours of Team31 Jolly Cycles and won three stage races in three weekends in july; the two-day Tour du Carmausin-Ségala, Ronde sud Bourgogne (also winning two stages) and Tour de la Vallée de la Trambouze. He also took two stage wins plus second overall in the Tour Junior Causses-Aigoual-Cévennes in early August and a solo victory in the junior race at the prestigious GP de Plouay on August 28th. After that he went on to finish 4th in the junior TT at the Europeans and 11th in the junior TT at the Worlds, before winning the Irish junior titles in the road race and TT. Having also won Irish cyclocross and MTB titles so far in his career, his versatility is clear. Rafferty has been snapped up by Axel Merckx’s Hagens Berman Axeon team for next season, when he moves up to the U23 ranks. To say he is "one to watch" is an understatement.
Caoimhe O'Brien
A multiple national champion in the youth and junior ranks, 19-year-old Caoimhe O'Brien stepped up to U23 and elite racing this year and immediately made good. She won two of the hardest races of the year in the John Beggs Memorial and the Des Hanlon Classic, both rounds of the National Road Series. Those performances underlined a seamless transition and improvement in her first year racing against the elites. International selection also confirmed she had immediately taken her place among the best in the country. She made her debut riding against professional opposition on the Irish team at Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames in France and was later selected for the U23 race at the European Road Championships in Trento, Italy. After a perfect first year out of junior racing - often a tricky transition - the Torelli-Assure-Cayman Islands-Scimitarcan rider from Westmeath can look forward with real confidence. (Photo by Bryan Keane-Inpho)
Conal Scully
Carlow RCC rider Conal Scully was a first year junior this year and broke into the national set-up in a big way. He was the only rider, along with Darren Rafferty, to be selected for the road race and TT for Ireland at both the Europeans and the Worlds this year. Like Rafferty, Carlow teenager Scully (17) spent some of his season in France and so we didn't get to see him weekly on home roads. However, one result in particular marked Scully out as one to watch; placing 4th in the TT stage the junior UCI-ranked stage race Ronde des Vallées Juniors. In a field of 136 junior riders from all over the world, Scully was among the very best. He has a season still to go at junior level and having banked invaluable experience this year, and shown his class, he can do plenty of damage in 2022.
Aoife O'Brien
A first-year junior this year, Aoife O'Brien claimed the Irish junior road race crown with an attacking ride in Co Wicklow in October; her aggression undeterred by the fact only a small field turned out on the day. O'Brien is a rider who won an elite classic - the Mullingar GP round of the National Road Series - when she was an U16 rider. And this year she also shined in that senior series, placing 3rd in the John Beggs Memorial; behind her sister and Torelli-Assure-Cayman Islands-Scimitarcan team mate, Coaimhe O'Brien, and National Road Series winner Fiona Mangan. O'Brien (17) was also selected onto the Irish team for both the road Europeans and Worlds this season. When full normality returns post-Covid and the usual domestic and international racing opportunities are re-installed, this is one rider we are definitely going to be hearing a lot more of. (Photo by Toby Watson)
Linda Kelly
Linda Kelly, a 27-year-old from New Ross in Co Wexford, was one of the incredible surprises of the 2021 season and was every bit a breakthrough rider. She was unheard of before this year, having come to cycling late from triathlon. But that late conversion and lack of experience in the peloton didn't hold her back. The first real indication of just how good her engine is came at Rás na mBan when the Munster Cycling team rider was 5th in the uphill TT. That was a remarkable result for an Irish club rider completely new to that level in such a hard international race. And then came confirmation of her standing on the domestic scene when she took bronze in the elite road race at the National Road Championships. It will be very interesting to see how the Barrow Wheelers ride performs next season having thrown herself in at the deep end and found she was one of the best, despite being so new to the sport. (Photo by Bryan Keane-Inpho)
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