The UCI Road World Championships are a bicycle road racing event that take please every year…
There are many competitions that take place within in, such as women’s, men’s, para-cycling, and junior teams. Below, we will discuss the most prominent Irish riders that are due to race, who will hopefully make a lasting impression in sports history and who the largest Irish cycling bookmakers favour for the titles.
What Are The UCI Road World Championships?
The UCI Road World Championships will be held in Zurich, Switzerland and will take place over one week. This location is special because it is where the third UCI Road World Championship was held all the way back in the 1920s. Now, the prestigious competition will commence on 21st September until the 29th September 2024. Altogether, there will be 24 exceptional athletes from Ireland competing in a variety of races, some of them like Darren Rafferty and Lucy BenezetMinns even taking part more than once.
The schedule for the Irish riders will look like this:
22nd September: Women B Time Trial (Josephine Healion and Katie-George Dunlevy)
23rd September: Men Under 23 Time Trial (Adam Rafferty and Darren Rafferty), Men’s Junior Time Trial (Seth Dunwoody and Conor Murphy)
24th September: Women’s Junior Time Trial (Lucy BenezetMinns and Aliyah Rafferty)
25th September: Women B Road Race (Katie Dunlevy and Josephine Healion)
26th September: Women Junior Road Race (Lucy BenezetMinns, Aine Doherty, and Aliyah Rafferty), Men Junior Road Race (Patrick Casey, Seth Dunwoody, David Gaffney, and Cal Tutty)
27th September: Men Under 23 Road Race (Dean Harvey, Jamie Meehan, Liam O’Brien, and Darren Rafferty)
28th September: Women Elite Road Race (Fiona Mangan, Aoife O’Brien, Caoimhe O’Brien)
29th September: Men Elite Road Race (Eddie Dunbar, Ben Healy, Conn McDunphy, Archie Ryan)
Who Are The Irish Riders?
Like we mentioned, there are 24 renowned Irish athletes competing at the UCI Road World Championships. They are divided into six squads:
• Men’s Elite
The Men’s Elite Squad is made up of four athletes that will all take part in the Men Elite Road Race on the 29th September. This will be the last event, so hopefully they will bring home first place. In the team is talented Eddie Dunbar who rides for the Australian team Jayco AlUla, and also competing is Ben Healy, who wowed at the recent Olympic Games and came in 10th. Conn McDunphy is also worth mentioning who rides for Team Skyline, as well as Archie Ryan, who despite his age has proved his excellence.
• Women’s Elite
The Women’s Elite squad is composed of three fantastic women. All three will compete in the Women Elite Road Race, although Aoife O’Brien and Caoimhe O’Brien are a part of the Under 23’s. This leaves Fiona Mangan, who has an impressive résumé. Not only was she the first woman from Ireland to finish the Cycling’s Grand Tours- La Vuelta Femenina in 2023, but she also won gold at the National Road Championships in 2024, along with Eddie Dunbar.
• Para-cycling
The para-cycling squad will have two events. The first will be held on the 22nd September and is the Women B Time Trial with Katie-George Dunlevy, with pilot Linda Kelly. She is considered to be the most successful female Paralympian in Ireland, who has 4 Paralympic gold medals. Also competing is Josephine Healion, who famously won bronze in the Women’s Tandem Road Race in 2022 at the same championship.
The second event is the Women B Road Race on the 25thSeptember, in which both women will also race.
• Men’s Under 23
The Men’s Under 23 squad are 2 affluent Irish athletes who will partake in the Men Under 23 Time Trial on the 23rdSeptember and 4 Irish athletes who will take part in the Men Under 23 Road Race on the 27th September. Among them is Darren Rafferty, who placed 5th last year in the same event and is undoubtedly looking to prove his ability this year. In addition, Dean Harvey won the Under 23 Gold Medal last year, so it will be interesting to see if he will remain consistent.
• Men Junior
The Men’s Junior squad also has two events.
In the Men Junior Time Trial, Seth Dunwoody and Conor Murphy will compete.
In the Men Junior Road Race will be Cal Tutty, David Gaffney, Seth Dunwoody and Patrick Casey.
Altogether, these five racers have invaluable experience between them in both national and international events. Dunwoody who currently rides for Cannibal B Victorious will compete in both and has countless medals including in the National Youth Road Championships.
• Women Junior
The Women Junior squad has some familiar faces, including Aliyah Rafferty, who is the sibling of cyclists Darren Rafferty and Adam Rafferty. With her, Lucy Benezet Minnis will ride in the Women Junior Time Trial. They will be joined by Aine Doherty in the Women Junior Road Race, who impressed at the European Road Championships in the Netherlands last year, and boasts three gold medals at the National Youth Road Championships. Together these athletes are set to shine at the UCI Road World Championships.
• Betting Odds
If you are searching to bet on the UCI Road World Championships and support your Irish athletes, it is important to be aware of the betting odds. This is why we have listed the most significant outright winner betting odds below:
• Men’s:
Ben Healy for the Time Trial: 500/1
Ben Healy for the Road Race: 40/1
Eddie Dunbar for the Road Race: 300/1
It is worthwhile noting that last year, there were more than 2600 athletes competing at the UCI World Championships from all over the world. Whilst taking first place would be fantastic for our talented Irish athletes, there are many stars that will shine regardless of whether they rank first or not. Even placing in the top 5 or 10 would qualify as a great performance, considering how many athletes there are competing in each race (sometimes up to 90).
Wexford Weekly
This article was published by a member of the Wexford Weekly team.
