Cycling Ireland is pleased to announce riders set to represent Ireland at the two upcoming UCI Track Cycling World Cup events taking place in Hong Kong and Malaysia this month.

Four riders will head to Hong Kong, with racing taking place from April 17th to 19th at the Hong Kong Velodrome. Aoife O’Brien, Emma Jeffers, Esther Wong and Erin Creighton will once again ride in green, with the quartet taking on the Team Pursuit event. All four have become regular features in national teams in recent years, with Creighton also making up part of the Paris 2024 Olympic squad.

While all four riders are set to race the Team Pursuit in Hong Kong, three will ride additional events. Emma Jeffers and Erin Creighton will race the Madison as a pair, with Jeffers also taking on the Elimination race, with Aoife O'Brien entering the Omnium event.

O’Brien and Creighton will then head to Malaysia for the Track World Cup in Nilai from April 24th to 26th. They will be joined by Matti Dobbins, who makes his World Cup debut having made his European Track Championship debut earlier this year. Lara Gillespie will also make the trip to Malaysia, making her return to track racing since winning her World Championship in the Elimination event last October.

Gillespie will don the rainbow stripes in the Elimination event, and also race in the Omnium. O'Brien and Creighton will race the Madison as a pair. Matti Dobbins will take to the track in the Men's Elimination and Omnium events.

Track Coach Dan Henchy is looking forward to getting back to World Cup action; The upcoming World Cups are a key part of our build towards this years Worlds and the major events in the coming seasons. The last time we raced in Hong Kong was the final race for our Paris TP squad before the Games and the silver medal won there was the result that secured our qualification. This time we’re returning with a team of U23 riders, much earlier in their track careers but no less ambitious. The track calendar has a very ‘Eastern’ feel to the next few years and learning how to manage the travel demands will be just as important as developing their race skills.

For the final round in Nilai we’re joined by Matti Dobbins looking to build on his strong showing at the Track Euros and Lara Gillespie who will be racing in the rainbow jersey for the first time in the elimination race. Lara’s made an impressive start to her road season and will be looking to show that form on the track, with both the elimination and omnium in her schedule.

Irish in action at the 2025 UCI Track World Championship