The women’s team pursuit squad will form the basis of the Irish team for the World Track Championships in Paris next month, with lone sprinter in the Irish set-up, Orla Walsh, also selected for the sprint.
While the team is limited to six riders, all female, Cycling Ireland has clarified what emerged as a somewhat confusing picture around the possibility of men being selected onto the Irish team for these Worlds.
The national governing body had said a couple of weeks ago it did not expect Ireland would be allocated places for men, largely due to JB Murphy suffering an unfortunate crash on the road and being ruled out of action.
However, when the UCI published its allocations for all races at the Worlds, Ireland was initially given places for men in the team sprint and team pursuit events. But Cycling Ireland has now said the UCI made a mistake and those places were never qualified by Ireland and never on offer.
Advertisement
A total of five endurance riders are selected for the Worlds including Emily Kay, Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy, Mia Griffin and Alice Sharpe. They are the national record holders in the team pursuit as well being World Cup winners and European Championships bronze medallists in the team pursuit last season.
As well as riding the team pursuit at the Worlds, the riders will also compete in other endurance events, though Cycling Ireland has not specified the selection for each of those events.
Kay, Gillespie and Murphy have just come out of Rás na mBan, which they rode on the Irish team, with Gillespie winning two stages. Griffin, who suffered fractures when she crashed during the madison in the Europeans, is thankfully fit enough to gain selection. Sharpe has just completed the seven-stage Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche in France.
Related News
Walsh will go into the Worlds as the only sprinter in the team but having gained lots of international experience in recent seasons since switching to the sprint event, including a solid campaign at the recent Europeans, where she was also part of the national team.
Dan Henchy, national track coach said he was looking forward to seeing the team in action in France next month.
"This is a strong team that has been in good form this year and we can go to Paris and look to build on that progress ahead of the Olympic qualifying process commencing in February. UCI points gained now are very important for our strategy heading into next season.
“It’s renowned as a lovely track to ride, very smooth, and it’s in a very large capacity stadium so racing in Paris always has a good feel as a rider. It will be good to get everyone acquainted with the facility ahead of time as well.”
High performance director, Iain Dyer, confirmed the position around Ireland having been mistakenly offered places in the men’s team sprint and team pursuit events.
“We were amazed to be offered places in the men's & women's team sprint and men's team pursuit initially. We knew we hadn’t achieved eligibility for these events this year, but it seemed the UCI wanted to get the numbers up, I think!” he said.
“Joking aside, it took them two further goes to finally get their quota allocation correct, so for the avoidance of doubt we didn’t qualify for those events and we weren’t eligible for those places in line with UCI regulations.”
