Tour de France and Vuelta a España stage winners among strong Irish team to contest Road World Championships in Rwanda next month

The UCI Road Cycling World Championships take place this September in Kigali, Rwanda, and Ireland will have a team of six Elite Men making the trip:

Rory Townsend
Ben Healy
Ryan Mullen
Darren Rafferty
Eddie Dunbar
Archie Ryan

Rory Townsend (Ireland) - Image courtesy of SW Pix

Ben Healy - Image courtesy of SW Pix

2025 road race National Champion Rory Townsend will ride in green once again. The Q36.5 rider is in his second stint in the national champion jersey, having previously won it in 2022, and recently took his team’s first World Tour victory, crossing the line first at the ADAC Cyclassics race in Germany.

Former national champion Ben Healy has had a stellar summer, taking his first stage win at the Tour de France and spending two days in the coveted yellow jersey. Healy also found himself on the podium at the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege race earlier in the year. Healy’s most recent appearances in an Irish jersey saw him take top-10s at last year’s World Championships in Switzerland and at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Ryan Mullen - Image courtesy of SW Pix

Darren Rafferty - Image courtesy of SW Pix

Current Time-Trial National Ryan Mullen is another rider no stranger to representing Ireland at the top level. The RedBull-Bora Hansgrohe rider will replicate his Paris Olympics programme, again riding both the Individual Time Trial and Road Race. After finishing just outside the top-10 in the TT, Mullen’s performance in the road race in Paris was integral to his teammate Healy’s strong finish.

2024 road race national champion Darren Rafferty makes the step up from the Under-23 ranks last year to the Elite level this year. Rafferty is no stranger to performing at the Elite level however, having already had a strong showing at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, and the Vuelta España in 2024. Along with the road race, Rafferty will join Ryan Mullen in the Individual Time Trial in Rwanda.

Eddie Dunbar - Image courtesy of SW Pix

Cork’s Eddie Dunbar will once again don the green jersey in Rwanda. A strong early performance at this year’s Tour de France was cut short by injury, but with two Vuelta a España stage wins under his belt in 2024, Dunbar will, as ever, be a strong asset at this year’s World Championships.

Archie Ryan rounds out this year’s Irish representation at the World Championships. The former Tour de l’Avenir stage winner is currently racing in his debut Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España, and got himself a very impressive 21st place finish at his first Elite World Championships in 2024.

Mullen and Rafferty will take part in the TT on Sunday, September 21st, with all six riders taking on the road race on Sunday, September 28th.

Archie Ryan - Image courtesy of SW Pix

Head Coach Neill Delahaye said: "This years Worlds in Rwanda are set to be a truly epic Championships. It is the 1st time the UCI Road Worlds are being held on the Continent of Africa and we are expecting this milestone event to receive huge levels of support, exposure and excitement amongst the viewing public both in Kigali and globally. The course is super hard at 267.5km with 5475m elevation and the environmental conditions may prove challenging but we have a very strong team of experienced professionals we are confident can deliver a huge performance. We are very proud to have this depth in the current generation of riders, all of whom are extremely motivated to give their all in the green jersey.

The guys are all quite different riders individually with different but complimentary skillsets we believe will combine very effectively to deliver a big team job on the day. The deeper we can get into the race with as little stress and energy burned as possible, the higher the potential to get a result in the end. Using our full allocation of 6 quota slots gives us every chance to support that ambition of seeing an Irish rider on the podium. We have full belief in our riders and what they are capable of doing and we will be doing our utmost to support and enable them execute their best possible race in Kigali on 28 September."


For more information on the World Championships - click here