Irish Cycling Team In Action Early Tomorrow At European Games in Baku

The Irish Cycling Team compete in their first event at the European Games in Baku tomorrow. First up is Caroline Ryan in the Women's Individual Time Trial over a distance of 25.8km. Later that day Ryan Mullen will race in the Men's Time Trial, 51.6km along the Bilgah Beach which was used at the weekend in the Triathlon events.

Both Ryan and Mullen have been preparing for this event over the past number of weeks in Majorca. Mullen has recently come out strongly from the An Post Race where he finished 3rd overall. He will be looking to follow-up on past strong performances in Time Trials on the International stage, most notably a silver medal at the U23 World Time Trial Championships last September. For Ryan this provides an opportunity to compete in his first major Games and gain valuable experience for the future.

Speaking from Baku ahead of the competition starting Cycling Ireland Technical Director, Brian Nugent said "The preparations have gone really well for Ryan and Caroline in our training camp in Majorca recently and since we arrived here. Both are in very good condition and can expect to perform very well tomorrow. Overall, we have a very young team here and this is an ideal opportunity for our up and coming riders to gain a vast amount of experience from a multi-sports Games of this nature."

On Sunday, Ryan Mullen will be joined in the Men's Road Race by Jack Wilson, Sean Downey, Conor Dunne and Eddie Dunbar. They will face a tough circuit of 215.8km around the city of Baku, which will be familiar to some of the team from earlier in the year when the An Post-Chainreaction rode the Tour of Azerbaijan. Caroline will finish of her campaign in the 120km Women's Road Race on Saturday.

The Staff supporting the Ireland Cycling Team in Baku:

Brian Nugent
Kurt Bogaerts
Sandy Gilchrist
Stacey Kelly

Time Trial Start Times
Caroline Ryan is off 7th at 6.09am Irish Time - See Start List http://www.baku2015.com/cycling-road/event/women-time-trial/index.html
Ryan Mullen is off 22nd at 10.21am Irish Time - See Start list http://www.baku2015.com/cycling-road/event=cycling-road-men-time-trial/…

Further details and live streaming of events can be found at the official website: http://www.baku2015.com