A five-rider Irish team has been selected for the Dublin UCI Cyclocross World Cup which takes place on Sunday week. Cycling Ireland named three men and two women on the national team, which will take on most of the best riders in the world at the Abbottstown Sports Campus.
In the women's event, UK-based Roisin Lally (Loughborough University) gets the nod and she will be joined by US-based Maria Larkin (Donkey Label p/b FK Law), the reigning national champion who rode the Worlds for Ireland in the US at the end of last season.
The men's Irish team is comprised of national cyclocross champion Chris McGlinchey (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) as well as the man of the season to date, Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port), and former national champion Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles).
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While all five abovementioned riders will compete on the Irish team on the day, other riders are also being selected to compete in their club or team kits in the elite men's and women's races.
As neither Larkin nor Lally are based in Ireland, they have not raced much on the domestic scene of late. However, when Larkin last competed in Ireland, last season, she won several events in the build up to the National Cyclocross Championships, before retaining her national crown in Armagh City.
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Lally was 3rd at the nationals last year - behind winner Larkin and silver medalist Darcey Harkness (VC Glendale). More recently, Lally was best of the Irish riders in the women's race at the UCI-ranked Cross Clonmel. She was 4th in that event last month and since then has ridden SuperPrestige in Hoogstraten and the Overijse World Cup, finishing 41st in both races.
In the men's Irish team for Dublin, Harvey has been the star performer on the domestic scene in recent weeks, winning all around him, including the first two rounds of the Cyclocross National Series. He won 'Round 2' of the series on Saturday, with Moore taking 2nd place.
Harvey confirmed his form, if confirmation was needed, at the Leinster Cyclocross League at the start of this month when he broke clear with McGlinchey in Co Louth before riding away from him to win. However, McGlinchey showed his form was coming good just yesterday when he claimed victory in the latest round of the Ulster Cyclocross Series in Ballymena.
While McGlinchey has not ridden the two Cyclocross National Series races in recent weeks, he is well known for preparing expertly for key goals and performing very well on the day. Against that background, it should be interesting to see what he can do competing against the European pros in Dublin on Sunday week.
Moore is also another man for the big occasion and is a former national champion in several disciplines; U23 road race, elite hill climb and elite cyclocross. Like McGlinchey, he has a habit of going very well on the big days and will be up for the fight on Sunday week.
