Disappointing Start for Women's Team Pursuit At The UCI Track Cycling World Championships

Ireland's Track Cycling World Championship campaign began today, with the Women's Team Pursuit finishing in 16th position at the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Paris. Consisting of Caroline Ryan, Lydia Boylan, Lauren Creamer and Josie Knight, Ireland's final time of 4.40.388 reflected a below par performance for the team, who have been training together since September. After a strong start, the team were on target for a good performance; however, with 1000 metres to go the team began to split. The qualifying round was won by Australia with GB marginally behind in second. The top 8 teams go through to the next round tomorrow. This was the first time that Ireland qualified a Women's Team Pursuit at the World Championships which run from the 18-22 February.

In the 4km race against the clock the Irish quartet started strong, with their splits on target for a time of 4.33. In the team pursuit while four riders start, the time of the third rider is counted as the finishing time. Junior rider Knight pushed hard for the first 3km as per plan, leaving the remaining trio to bring it over the line. Unfortunately at the World Championships there is no margin for error, and in the closing laps Boylan was distanced from Creamer and Ryan.

Speaking after the race Ryan was disappointed with the result saying "We got a lovely start, we had a frame of what we wanted to do with it and it was right on that, and in the team we're thinking that's it, ticking them off as we go. We're cooling down on the rollers now, and we're all going to be disappointed with that, cos there's a lot more in us."

Ryan, who has represented Ireland at World Championships events in both cycling and rowing is confident in what the team are capable of with more time together: "In training all the time we are getting better and better, and we're getting the efforts out in training, which you can't do in racing until you do it in training. We were so excited about today, but I mean, it is the first world championships for a lot of the team. I mean we have great strength and depth in the team; it's so exciting going forward for next year. We would have loved to have done ourselves justice today; I'm disappointed with that because we haven't. Looking at that we're going to be very disappointed with that. A lot has to happen for it to come right on the day. It's not like we are looking for something that we haven't seen. 100% there's exciting things to come from this team."

Thursday will see Martyn Irvine in action, competing in the Scratch Race. In 2013 Irvine sensationally won the World Title in this event within 40 minutes of winning silver in the Individual Pursuit. Last year he won silver in this event. Irvine is the only rider in action tomorrow. The UCI Track Cycling World Championships take place in the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris from the 18-22 February.