Twenty Strong Team Announced for European Road Championships

A team of 20 riders is set to head to France next month for the UEC Road European Championships.

Elite Women

Ireland will enter two riders in the Elite Women’s road race. 2024 Senior National Champion Fiona Mangan will be joined on the start line by 2024 U23 National Champion Caoimhe O’Brien. Mangan and O’Brien rode together in last year’s UCI World Championships, and have both become stalwarts of Irish teams in recent years. O'Brien has consistently finished inside the top-10 throughout 2025, while 2025 has brought Mangan a stage win at the Volta a Portugal Feminina, along with a debut Grand Tour at the Tour de France Femmes.

Junior Men

Six Junior Men will ride in green in Drome-Ardeche in early October. Following a very strong debut in green at the Junior Tour of Ireland, which included a stage win, Toby Sweetman will ride for Ireland again. Sweetman will be joined by Rory Condon, the Cork man having produced an incredibly strong performance at the Road National Championships, staying away in a race long break away with winner Conor Murphy and taking second place. Both Sweetman and Condon will only ride the Road Race at this Champs. Highest placed Junior at Rás Mumhan this year Hugh Og Mulhearne will also feature in this year’s Road Race.

Current Time-Trial and Road Race National Champion Conor Murphy will take ride in the Road Race and Time Trial events in France. He will be joined in both events by former European Youth Olympic Festival athlete David Gaffney, and recent Junior Tour of Ireland and Junior Volta a Portugal winner Matthew Walls.

Junior Women

Two Irish riders will feature in the Junior Women’s Road Race. Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco pair Ella Tandy and Aliyah Rafferty make the trip, both riders having recently competed in the Rás na mBan on home roads. Rafferty is current Junior Road Race and Time Trial National Champion, and was the youngest member of the Ireland team at this year’s Rás. Rafferty will ride the Time Trial in addition to the Road Race in France.

U23 Men

U23 TT National Champion Adam Rafferty will be joined by Liam O’Brien and Seth Dunwoody in both the TT and Road Race at European Championships. The trio recently rode for Ireland at the Tour de l’Avenir, with particularly strong performances from Dunwoody on several sprint finishes. All three riders have had incredibly strong seasons to this point, with stage wins at the Baby Giro for Dunwoody and Rafferty, while O’Brien has taken podiums and put his stamp on races across France and Italy.

Rafferty, O’Brien and Dunwoody will be joined in the Road Race by another trio in Patrick Casey, Dean Harvey and Killian O’Brien. This year’s Criterium National Champion Harvey saw his Tour de l’Avenir come to a premature end recently, but will look to get back to the strong performances that marked the first half of his year, which included taking stage wins at races in Europe and the Caribbean. Casey took third overall and second U23 in this year’s Road Race National Championship, while O’Brien has spent most of his year racing across Italy and taking on stage races in France and Romania.

U23 Women

Abi Conway recently saw her explosion onto the Irish road racing scene over the last two years rewarded with a debut for Ireland at the Rás na mBan. Conway comes into the European Championships having taken a podium in all but one domestic one day race she’s lined up for this year.

U23 National Champion Emma Jeffers has been a regular in Ireland squads this year, both on the track and the road. Jeffers took a stage win in Tuscany recently, to go along with several strong performances in one-day races throughout this year, and will line out for the Road Race at this year’s European Champs.

Former Junior National Champion Lucy Benezet Minns is back riding for Ireland, in a year in which she made the step up to Continental level. The 2024 European Track Champion has represented Ireland on the road on several occasions already, including at last year’s World Championships, and will again ride in both the Road Race and the TT at this year’s Europeans.

Esther Wong rounds out the Irish representation at this year’s European Championships. Having taken to the track for Ireland towards the end of last year, Wong has excelled on the road again this year, taking the win in several one day races across the UK and staying consistently inside the top 10 on all but one stage at the recent Rás na mBan.

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For information on the European Road Championships, taking place from October 1st-5th - click here