An Irish national team will be selected to ride the UCI Cyclocross World Cup when it comes to Dublin in December. The national team will take to the start line in two races, with other Irish riders also set to be picked to compete in their own club or team kits.
An 'expression of interest' process has just been opened, with those interested in being selected to race asked to complete an application form. While no specific results-based criteria have been set down, all interested riders are asked to list their recent results and also to outline their current form, as well as other information.
Selection onto the elite men's or elite women's Irish teams for the World Cup races will be based on riders' ability to compete but also on the benefits that being selected may offer to some riders in the development phase of their careers. Only elite riders are being picked because there is no World Cup racing for U23s or juniors at the Dublin round of the World Cup.
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Cycling Ireland's off-road commission announced the plan for the teams today, Friday. The development will be welcomed, especially coming in the wake of the decision not to send an Irish team to the Europeans in Namur, Belgium, next month.
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The Cycling Ireland commission said the number of slots available to Irish riders at the World Cup is "limited". Four riders will be picked to ride for Ireland, meaning they will compete in Irish team kit. However, the same selection process will choose an unspecified number of other Irish riders to compete in the races in their own club or team kit.
"The team will be selected on a discretionary basis by the selection panel," the off-road commission said. "The selection panel will consider riders to be competitive at this level and who would also benefit from experiencing competition at this level. The panel may select fewer riders than the maximum number permitted under UCI rules should they not meet the desired selection criteria.
"The selection panel will exercise its discretion fairly and without bias in making its final decision. If a selected rider is unable to compete for any reason, substitute selections will be at the discretion of the selection panel. There is no automatic selection, nor will any performance in one event or competition be a defining factor in selecting one rider over another."
Any rider who would like to race in the elite men's or elite women's World Cup is asked to declare their interest by completing the form at this link. The races take place at the Sport Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown on Sunday, December 11th. You must register your interest - by sending your completed form to [email protected] - before close of business on Monday fortnight, November 14th.
