{"id":909071,"date":"2026-09-28T22:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909071\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:40:17","slug":"4-conclusions-about-our-riders-and-cycling-ireland-after-world-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909071\/","title":{"rendered":"4 conclusions about our riders and Cycling Ireland after World Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Ben Healy and the team did all they could in the men’s elite road race, but there were factors our of their control, despite the longrange preparation on the ground in Canada (Photo: Caroline Kerley)<\/p>\n

1 Senior Men’s Road Team<\/p>\n

When Ben Healy was 8th at \u00a0Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al (1.UWT), especially give the way he rode, it was clear he was back into top form and that it was ‘game on’ for the road race at the just-concluded UCI World Road Championships in Montreal. However, Healy and Cycling Ireland were fully committed even before that.<\/p>\n

The Irish rider had arranged to remain on in Canada after the race, to prepare for the Worlds, and staff from Cycling Ireland joined EF Education-EasyPost on the World Tour team’s racing trip to North America.<\/p>\n

Healy had finished 3rd at the Worlds last year and the hope was he could repeat that rider – maybe even go one or two better, especially with defending champion Tadej Poga\u010dar (Slovenia) out of the picture.<\/p>\n

That all-in approach from the national governing body has been more in evidence since Iain Dyer took over as high performance director. The emphasis – for road, track, paracycling – has been on aiming to win big, and definitely not bothering with the easier option of selecting bigger teams for the sake of it, and for an easier life.<\/p>\n

Healy is now such a valuable rider for his trade team and for Ireland, that Cycling Ireland should, and will, push the boat out when helping him prepare, thus sending Martyn Irvine in Canada to be with the rider and his trade team long before the Worlds.<\/p>\n

On race day yesterday, Sunday, Healy rode out of socks, supported by Darren Rafferty, Ryan Mullen and Jamie Meehan. But even before he pulled the trigger for the first time with over 50km to go, senior debutant Meehan spent 160km up the road in a breakaway, a fantastic ride.<\/p>\n

And while Healy couldn’t quite reach out and grab a medal, that was mainly down to the dominance of the Americans – Brandon McNulty escaping solo and Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons acting like guard dogs in the Healy chasing group.<\/p>\n

After the race was done, and Healy placed 10th, he wondered if he should have held back a little. But he also remarked that, on another day, one of his moves may had stuck. And that was the story of the day.<\/p>\n

There was nothing wrong with the team’s performance, indeed it was fantastic. There was also nothing wrong with Healy’s legs, he had the form he need for a win, even to win. But the cards simply didn’t fall in his favour.<\/p>\n

That decision by Cycling Ireland to really invest in him in the build up to the race was the right one, even if the Irish didn’t get the rub of the green on the day; the only thing they needed to convert that 10th place into another medal.<\/p>\n

2 Not Filling The Full Quota<\/p>\n

It was noticeable that junior rider Emer Heverin was the only woman in the team, across all categories; junior, U23 and seniors. However, while the optics were not great, there were reasons for that.<\/p>\n

The climbers’ course was simply not suited to our top female pros; riders like Mia Griffin, Lara Gillespie and Fiona Mangan regarded as very strong one-day races, but better suited to classics-style racing, and sprinting.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Emer Heverin was the only woman on the Irish team, though the hilly course and upcoming track Worlds worked against selecting more women (Photo: Toby Watson)<\/p>\n

Once the sheer difficult of the course became clear, it was obvious the return from traveling to Canada would be minimal for our best road riders. And when the expression of interest process opened, stickybottle understands only a small number of female riders put their hands up.<\/p>\n

Add to that, there is the not so small matter of the World Track Championships taking place in Shanghai, China, in just over two weeks. Given the overlap in our U23 and senior women’s pool for track and road, it was no surprise the interest in the road Worlds was lower across the senior and U23 group.<\/p>\n

Cycling Ireland also decided that, of those female riders who did want to go, Heverin was the only very obvious pick. The decision was taken to send her as the sole junior and to inform her of her selection well in advance.<\/p>\n

While the U23 women’s group includes very strong riders who did not ride the track, Cycling Ireland believed that group was too small to create a team, especially one for such a hilly course, and so nobody was selected.<\/p>\n

3 U23 Men’s Road Race Team<\/p>\n

Excluding one-man U23 teams at the Worlds – Eddie Dunbar and Ben Healy rode the road race on their own during the U23 days – the four-man team picked this year is the only team comprised of riders who all look set to get pro contracts.<\/p>\n

Seth Dunwoody and Liam O’Brien have already signed contracts for next year, with Bahrain Victorious and Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. Adam Rafferty looks certain to be a World Tour rider, as early as next year. And while David Gaffney was only a first-year U23, it’s not exactly going out on the limb to express certainty about his chances of being signed as a professional.<\/p>\n

In short, this is the most talented U23 group we have ever had. We have had exceptional riders before, sure, but never a Worlds team where the depth of talent has been so deep.<\/p>\n

And that was maybe their undoing at these Worlds; taking on an all-in approach where caution, at least for a little longer, may have been wiser. That, said, it’s easy to reach these conclusions in hindsight.<\/p>\n

And, like Dunwoody said:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\""I'd<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ireland's<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“We were productive in the race, even though we\u2019re obviously not happy with the way it unfolded.<\/p>\n

“I guess had we pulled it off we would have been class, but now that it didn\u2019t we don\u2019t look great but honestly we go out with our heads held high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Gaffney, Rafferty and O’Brien on the front of the U23 men’s bunch after Dunwoody had already put in a big shift (Photo: Caroline Kerley)<\/p>\n

They went to the front of the race quite early and rode there for a prolonged period. In the end, they simply couldn’t sustain it, perhaps writing a cheque in the first phase that they couldn’t cash in the final.<\/p>\n

But it is a mark of who they are that they took it on in the way they did, especially after missing the breakaway.<\/p>\n

Two of the team have already medalled in major championships – Gaffney 3rd in the junior road race at the Europeans last year, where Rafferty won bronze in the U23 TT. O’Brien is among the best climbers in the world in the U23 bunch and Dunwoody among the best classics men.<\/p>\n

On the Montreal course, if they were on a good day, O’Brien and Rafferty were medal contenders.<\/p>\n

This was the first time they had gotten together as a team since O’Brien’s brother, Shane (17), was killed in a training ride accident in June.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, it is no surprise they wanted to do something big. And they cannot be criticised in terms of ambition.<\/p>\n

They also cannot be faulted for effort and the class of all four is, thankfully, undeniable. They went for it in Montreal and it just didn’t work. That’s life.<\/p>\n

Cycling Ireland Social Media<\/p>\n

It may seem like small thing, especially after such a feast of racing at these Worlds, but Cycling Ireland had notable gotten its act together on social media.<\/p>\n

At times, social media content – of middling quality – dribbles out of a team camp. At other times down the years, Irish teams have gone away to race and there’s been no communication about their progress from the national governing body.<\/p>\n

But this time around there were daily reports and, notably, good quality social media output, featuring the riders and staff. And that content didn’t appear to be oppressive for the riders.<\/p>\n

Granted, the cyclists are there to race, not generate clips for Instagram. But it looked like content was put together without the need to stick a camera in the athletes’ faces every five minutes, or have a camera on record at inappropriate times.<\/p>\n

A subtle hand, and some diplomacy, is needed when looking to feature riders on socials while ensuring nothing compromises their focus on the job at hand; to perform at their best and, hopefully, take some silverware.<\/p>\n

Whoever was behind the camera got it right. They didn’t hijack the process for self-promotion. One small complaint was that we could have done with slightly more, and that some of the rider interviews could have been longer.<\/p>\n

But us wanting more reflects well on the content that was produced. Credit where it’s due.<\/p>\n

One other feature from the week was Cycling Ireland’s decision to delete comments from its Facebook page and then close the comments section on posts.<\/p>\n

This appeared to come about after the tactics in the U23 road race didn’t bring about a medal. That resulted in some people chipping in with their fascinating advice about how it should’ve been done.<\/p>\n

The national governing body probably wanted to protect the riders at a difficult time, especially for O’Brien. And that human reaction is, on one level, understandable.<\/p>\n

But it will encourage a very, very highly motivated group to come back again and again and insist on having their say. And it will very likely give rise to lots more criticism for Cycling Ireland in the longer term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Healy and the team did all they could in the men’s elite road race, but there were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-909071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}