Esther Wong, who made her debut for Ireland at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Dublin last weekend, is set for European pro road race action next season after signing for a UCI Continental team.
The 18-year-old, who competed on the Great Britain junior team at the World Road Championships in Switzerland in September, has now declared for Ireland and is likely to road cyclocross and track for the national team in the years ahead.
Next year she will ride for Hess Cycling Team, which is a British-based UCI Continental outfit that rides a programme of European pro road racing. Former Irish road race champion, Imogen Cotter, rode for the team last year.
"I'm looking forward to the 2025 season with Hess," Wong said. "I feel being part of Hess is the right step to take to help my development as a rider and as a person.
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"I'm excited for what's to come with my international team mates and racing across Europe," she added of being part of a team that rode the Tour of Britain this year as well as UCI-ranked racing in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Wong will be a first-year U23 next season but rode for Great Britain in the junior Nations Cup race – Watersley Ladies Challenge – in the Netherlands in August, when she was 3rd and 5th on stages and 3rd overall.
She was also 7th on a stage of the Bizkaikoloreak Nations Cup stage race, 12th in the junior Tour of Flanders and was 4th in the elite Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix in Britain in May.
In the early part of the road season, she also took 5th on a stage of Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie, a Nations Cup stage race in France. She also finished 7th in junior Gent Wevelgem as well as taking 12th in Piccolo Trofeo Alfredo Binda, a one-day Nations Cup race in Italy back in March.
