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General Race Thread 2025 **spoilers**

1…1718202223

Comments

  • #572
    Bambaata
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,169 ✭✭✭Bambaata


    Savage stuff, great seeing the young crop of young lads doing well. Seems like there's good years ahead with the amount of top u23 and juniors these days!

    Post edited by Bambaata on


  • #573
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123562791#Comment_123562791

    Something that bugged me about Irish cycling is the lack of solid numbers we have.

    It usually seems to be a handful of big names which is great but places like Denmark or New Zealand always have a solid bank of dependable riders in the peloton.



  • #574
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    I think we’re doing alright to be fair. Same number as world tour riders as Switzerland the last time I looked and they’re smack bang in the middle of cycling central

    I’d say NZ fans would swap our cycling heritage and present day status in a heartbeat too



  • #575
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123563581#Comment_123563581

    For all the sucess we have had in the past the riders we have had recently are not the sign of a healthy system though. Martin, Dunne and Healy were born and raised in Britain, Roche is obviously a Roche and Bennett is a cyclist because he grew up in Belgium. Dunbar and Mullen are the only ones who really came through an Irish system.

    I don't want to make too big a deal out of it I was just thinking that if enough of these guys start to come through and become solid but not outstanding it's still a sign that things are improving.

    A few years down the road my hope is we are not just sending Healy to a Worlds with a bit of hope but with an actual solid team to back him up. Imagine an Irish team that actually had hard choices to make.



  • #576
    Macy0161
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,782 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    I think it's virtuous circle - good young riders coming out of Ireland will get better opportunities/ more interest with the quality of riders that preceded them. It opens doors.



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  • #577
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123563635#Comment_123563635

    I think the "virtuous circle" is exactly why things went wrong. Irish cycling is like the soccer team with both thinking success in the 80's was gonna just keep repeating itself.

    We were successful once with minimal effort and then thought that would happen every time.



  • #578
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    We simply don’t have the sports industry to support continued success on the world stage.

    That’s a wider problem than cycling. FWIW Bennett didn’t grow up in Belgium. He was home by the time he was 2



  • #579
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123563775#Comment_123563775

    Oh okay. I must have just misinterpreted him talking about growing up supporting Quickstep and having Tom Boonen posters on the wall.

    I knew his father came home to manage Waterford but I had that down as being the 00's but it was actually 95.



  • #580
    Macy0161
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,782 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123563686#Comment_123563686

    Not excusing the any sports failure to capitalise, but cycling is (obvious) a much more international sport than it was in the days of Kelly et al. But I'm also not saying the everything's grand and things will come without further action from CI. It's a good position to start from, nothing more.



  • #581
    eagle eye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,392 ✭✭✭✭eagle eye


    There's very little funding given to any sport in this country that's not named GAA.

    There's a lot of sports that get hand outs, not enough, but a lot more than cycling.

    That's the problem, if we invested in our kids the payback would be there for all to see. There's a lot of overachievers from this country and if they got some backing as kids it'd be great.



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  • #582
    mewso
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 9,184 Mod ✭✭✭✭mewso


    I see there is a brand new race on this weekend, the Copenhagen Sprint, for both men and women. It's straight in as a World Tour race which seems strange to me. Would be curious what criteria the UCI applies in cases like this. Maybe to boost cycling in Denmark?



  • #583
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123564633#Comment_123564633

    If organisation levels are up tk a certain standard (especially TV coverage) and it has enough money behind it I think it can get in.



  • #584
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    basically boils down to money. The Chinese races, UAE tour etc. all straight in as world tour

    Denmark does deserve one though so hopefully it sticks around



  • #585
    retalivity
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,164 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    UAE won the TT & the GC at Suisse today, and Baroncini won the GC in Belgium for them as well, making it 40 wins in 2025 so far. Pog still has to do the tour & Vuelta…

    Almeida destroyed everyone on the mountain TT, and is arguably the 3rd (2nd?) best climber in the world at the moment. If he's pulling for Pog on the climbs in the tour, the 2 of them could just take off.



  • #586
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    just watched the highlights of a new race in Andorra. Decent field and looked a super tough test (with some removed because of the rain). Great looking top 10 too with Archie Ryan 8th (and looks like he was in support of Chaves too)



  • #587
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    I didn't realise we had a Liam O'Brien riding for Trek at the baby Giro. Finished 21st in the end.



  • #588
    retalivity
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,164 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123571327#Comment_123571327

    Its cool to see new WT races in locations outside of the usual places (with stacked startlists) like Andorra and Denmark. Half the peloton live in Andorra or nearby, so a no-brainer to have one there. The Danish one had/has the potential to be an echelon-fest

    Post edited by retalivity on


  • #589
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    it was only a 1.1 UCI race. Not world tour yet, but a big test for climbers so I think it has the potential to grow into a bigger race



  • #590
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123571488#Comment_123571488

    Our 3 men (O’Brien, Dunwoody, Rafferty) in that have all ridden for their parent World Tour team. That’s a big sign that they’re legit prospects



  • #591
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    Cycling Ireland have announced the “long list” for the world championships.

    Basically the 6 pros we have, with Sam being the only one not included (as you’d expect with the terrain)



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  • #592
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    The pros entered into the National ITT champs are Mullen, Rafferty and Townsend

    Women’s race see all Gillespie, Griffin and the conti riders like O’Brien, Minns, Jeffers

    Men’s u23 has all the big names too



  • #593
    at1withmyself
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,679 ✭✭✭at1withmyself


    Where and when is that on?



  • #594
    Macy0161
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,782 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Meath and Westmeath

    https://www.cyclingireland.ie/news-item/entries-open-for-the-2025-road-race-and-time-trial-national-championships/



  • #595
    Torrey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 86 ✭✭Torrey


    Any start lists available for the road races yet?



  • #596
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    start lists

    Full start lists there. For the men Dillon Corkery is the only real addition to those on the ITT list)



  • #597
    breezy1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,086 ✭✭✭✭breezy1985


    Gillespie has pulled out of the Nat's after getting caught up in a crash.



  • #598
    Melodeon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭Melodeon


    Looks like Sam Bennett's contract isn't being renewed:
    https://www.directvelo.com/actualite/121716/au-moins-dix-departs-chez-decathlon-ag2r-la-mondiale
    (in French, but Google translate or the like makes a pretty good fist of turning it into English)
    "Almost all of the riders whose contracts with the French WorldTeam are expiring will not be renewed, DirectVelo has learned . Sam Bennett, Clément Berthet, Benoît Cosnefroy, Dries De Bondt, Dorian Godon, Victor Lafay, Nans Peters, Bastien Tronchon, and Andrea Vendrame will no longer wear the colors of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale."

    Sadly, I'm not entirely surprised. Sam's a lovely guy, perhaps a bit too nice for the cut-throat win-or-die mindset that's almost a necessity to be competitive at the pointy end of World Tour sprinting these days.
    He hasn't really come back to the heights of his previous success since the knee injury and the debacle of the fall out with Patrick Lefevere.
    Those couple of years when he was imperious in the sprints were glorious, and I really hope he finds a new home in the pro peleton and comes back to form again.



  • #599
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    he’s done OK for them in fairness. Their 7th top UCI scorer last year. He was 10th this year last week for them when I looked. A good few wins for them in the French races

    Obvioudly not at the top level anymore but there’s loads of teams who’d take his production (at a certain pay point obviously)

    Some of the other lads let go by then are top riders too



  • #600
    CrowdedHouse
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,115 ✭✭✭CrowdedHouse


    National Champs TT (25.4 Km)

    WOMEN

    • Kelly MURPHY Unattached Foreign 33:06.59 –  
    • Linda KELLY Spin the Bean Power by Coffee +13.89  
    • Mia GRIFFIN Roland +1:31.92  
    • MEN ELITE
    • Ryan MULLEN Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe 29:22.16 –  
    • George PEDEN Team PB Performance +6.27  
    • Darren RAFFERTY EF Education – EasyPost +14.45  

    Seven Worlds will Collide



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  • #601
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    winners from the National Champs ITT


    Junior men - Conor Murphy

    Junior women - Aaliyah Rafferty

    U23 men - Adam Rafferty

    U23 women - Lucy Benezet Minns

    Elite women - Kelly Murphy 

    Elite men - Ryan Mullen 

    Darren Rafferty 3rd as he tried to make it 3/3 for the siblings



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