News

The Junior/U23 European Track Championships take place from July 15th-20th in Anadia, Portugal, and Cycling Ireland has announced it will be sending a team of five male and five female riders.

Both male and female riders will compete in the Team Pursuit, with selection for this and individual events taking place closer to the time.

The riders selected to represent Ireland in the U23 Women’s events will include Lucy Benezét Minns, who took home a Junior European Championship in the Points Race at last year’s event in Germany. Riding for Lotto Ladies on the road this year, the 19 year old recently made a significant attack in the road National Championships, but was caught 2km from the finish.

Paris 2024 Olympic Team Pursuit reserve rider Erin Creighton will make the trip, having previously put in strong performances at World Junior and European U23 Championships in recent years.

2025 Criterium National Champion Aine Doherty will make another appearance in green, having previously represented Ireland at Road and Cyclo-cross World Championships, and at numerous other international events.

Aoife O’Brien and Esther Wong round out the female representatives at this competition. Both have become stalwarts of the track team in 2025, riding at Elite European Championships and the Track Nations Cup. O’Brien also recently bagged a silver and bronze medal at Festival International Piste in France.

First year juniors Elliot McKeegan and George Sevastopulo are back in green, having made their debuts at the Next Gen event in Apeldoorn earlier this year. Both riders have continued to grow as they gain more experience both on the road and track in 2025, and both put in strong performances at the recent Road National Championships.

Luca Holmes is set to make another appearance in an Irish jersey, having taken a top-10 in the Scratch race at the Grenchen Track Challenge in December of last year.

Another rider no stranger to representing Ireland is Max Fitzgerald. The second year Junior recently won the Stephen Roche GP, and was part of the Ireland squad at the Next Gen event in Apeldoorn in January, where he broke the Junior 1km national record.

Former Youth Olympic representative Philip O’Connor will once again ride in green. The Dungarvan rider also featured at last year’s European Track Champs in Germany as a first year Junior, and more recently at the Grenchen Track Classic.

All riders will attend a week long training camp in Anadia the week before competition starts.

Track Head Coach Dan Henchy said, “The Junior and U23 European Track Championships return to Anadia for 2025 and it’s an event we’ve selected a strong endurance team for. Women’s endurance has been the source of most of our success in the last few years, with Lara’s double gold medal success in 2023 (points and omnium) and Lucy’s junior points race win last year as stand out results in this event. We’ve got five riders looking to build on that success, with Aoife, Erin and Esther having already raced at the Elite Euros this year being joined by Lucy and Aine.

The women’s team has been a regular feature at recent track championships, but five riders selected for the men’s junior team is a welcome addition. Martyn and the lads have been working hard since their TP debut at the Next Gen event in January and we’ll be looking for continued progression in both the TP and individual events.”

More information on the event is available HERE.