Sam Bennett, currently with Bora-hansgrohe, is the biggest Irish rider on the transfer - which officially opens today - though many other names are coming to the end of their current deals and will also be a feature. While Ireland's place in the pro peloton has generally been modest down the years, usually with a small number of big name riders, things are changing.
We now have a larger group of riders who are being sought out by professional teams, some of them among the biggest in the world, as they try to beef up their rosters. And one of the more exciting features is that several of our female riders are already riding at World Tour level while other Irish woman, and also several U23 male riders, are much hotter properties now than they were this time last year.
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Before we get into who is on the market, let's start with what we already know for certain about the destination of some of our top cyclists next year and who is in line for a pay increase and maybe a move the other way.
Ben Healy recently extended his contract with EF Education-EasyPost after initially signing for the World Tour team for the start of the 2022 season in what has proven one of the best bits of business team boss Jonathan Vaughters ever did.
After his stage win in the Giro and victories at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali and GP Industria & Artigianato - not to mention 2nd in both De Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race and 4th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège - Healy would have commanded a very significant hike in salary.
He had initially signed for two years with the US-registered team and has already extended for two more, which will see him stay where he is until at least the end of 2025.
Darren Rafferty - who has been competing for Hagens Berman Axeon this year - placed 2nd in the Next Gen Giro and claimed overall victory in Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta-Mont Blanc. Those results - on top of others so far this year and last season - made him a coveted rider on the transfer market and Vaughters has also signed the Co Tyrone man; deservedly securing a place in the top tier of the paid ranks.
A third Irish rider - completing a mafia of Irish hitters at the team - signed by EF Education-EasyPost is Archie Ryan; again his first pro contract. After four years at Jumbo Visma Development - only one of which he was able to race properly due to injury - Ryan departs for pastures pink with the Vaughters outfit.
He has a two-year deal and his first task, and that of the team, will be to stabilise the knee injury that has kept Ryan out of competition this year. Thankfully the climbing ace - 4th in Tour de l'Avenir last season - is back training again and we wish him the very best of course.
With that trio wrapped up nicely by the same team - one with a bit of personality and which will allow all three race hard - attention turns to the unhappier Irish situation at Bora-hansgrohe. Sam Bennett went back to the team last year on a two-year contract - his second stint with the German outfit - and brought Ryan Mullen, Danny van Poppel and Shane Archbold with him.
That tenure has not been a happy one as Bennett - yet to find top gear this season - has been omitted from the Tour de France selection this year and last. By extension, though Irish TT champion Mullen has ridden out of his socks for Bora-hansgrohe, he is part of the Bennett package and the Tour omission was a major set-back for him too.
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In now seems absolutely certain Bennett and Mullen are on their way out of the team - though you never quite know. Bennett told the media at Tour de Pologne, which is ongoing, that he has no news yet about next year.
That means there either is now news about next year or there is but he's just not saying. Either way, the only team Bennett has been linked to - in fleeting mentions in the media - is US-registered ProConti outfit Human Powered Health. He will, of course, want to stay in the World Tour, for both salary and racing opportunities. As of yet, his and Ryan's destination - assuming they go as a package - remains unclear.
Other riders in the World Tour teams this year include Mia Griffin and two-time Irish road race champion Alice Sharpe; both with contracts expiring at year end.
Griffin, who has suffered concussion this year but is making her way back, has been riding for Israel Premier Tech Roland since the start of the season. Sharpe began the year with that team's development outfit before stepping up to the World Tour squad from June 1st.
Both are key members of the Ireland team pursuit line-up on the track and staying at World Tour level next year - hopefully in the same team - would be a big plus in terms of their road and track progression.
Megan Armitage signed a deal last winter with the team known as B&B Hotels-KTM, which was about to expand, with new sponsors, until its collapse. She then quickly found a berth for 2023 with Arkéa Pro Cycling. She won a stage and the overall at Vuelta Extremadura Féminas (2.2) this season and was picked for Tour de France Femmes, but missed out due to suffering concussion in a training crash just days before the race.
Her results this year - not to mention her strength and aggression in races where she was not placed - should put her in a very strong position for 2024, perhaps to step up to World Tour level or, at the very least, stay where she is though her current contract is just for this year.
Lara Gillespie - who has just won two U23 titles at the European Track Championships - is on her first ever contract this year with a pro road team; UAE Development Team. Having excelled in the road racing so far - taking a victory in Europe and other top results - it looks like it is only a matter of time before she is a World Tour rider, with team support and securing bigger results. She will be keenly watched by Irish cycling fans in this transfer market.
Also on a one-year deal this season is former Irish champion Imogen Cotter, competing for Fenix-Deceuninck Continental. She appears to have largely recovered from her serious crash at the start of last year and resumed a heavier schedule of racing and will look to build on that, hopefully in the pro peloton, next season.
Fiona Mangan has ridden for Soltec Team in Spain this year, completing the women's Vuelta, and will also look to continue her progress, riding major pro races, in 2024.
Former Irish road race champion Rory Townsend is riding his first year at ProContinental level this season - with Bolton Equities Black Spoke. He has demonstrated a proven ability, winning La Roue Tourangelle Centre Val de Loire in France this year, and should be a strong position to stay in the paid ranks.
At the Trinity Racing Continental team, Kevin McCambridge will age out of the U23 ranks this year - meaning he needs a new team. Dean Harvey still has a couple of season remaining at the category and staying with the Andrew McQuaid-owned squad would be a great move for him.
