Dan Martin and Nicholas Roche have been selected for the UCI Road World Championships in Italy following their efforts in the Tour de France.
Ryan Mullan and Ben Healy will join Martin and Roche in Ireland's four-man team for the three-day event that starts in a week's time in Imola.
Cycling Ireland Technical Director and Head Coach Brian Nugent said: “While 2020 has been a difficult year, it is great to see the UCI World Championships go ahead after a late relocation.
“Irish cycling is on a high with burgeoning numbers at a participation level and inspiring performances by Irish riders at the Tour de France in recent weeks.
"We’re looking to bring that momentum into the World Championships with a course that suits our climbers and a really good TT course which our specialists will enjoy.
"We’re going into this one with confidence and are relishing the opportunity to pull on the Irish kit after such an uncertain period."
Roche suffered a crash on stage 10 of this year’s Tour de France, however recovered well to feature in multiple breakaways and secure his 64th top 10 stage finish in a Grand Tour.
Martin started the Le Tour just a fortnight after fracturing a bone in his lower back. The injury forced him to maintain a low profile in the early stages of the race, however he sprung into the limelight on stage 13 in a long-range breakaway finishing 11th and again on stage 17.
With Martin coming into form, the 2020 UCI Road World Championships course looks to suit the punchy climber.
Originally set for Switzerland, the location was changed at short notice due to the coronavirus pandemic with Imola confirmed as the new venue.
The men’s road race will be contested over an arduous 258.2 km, featuring nine loops and 5000m of climbing.
Mullan and Roche will race the elite men’s time trial next Friday. The largely flat 31.7 km route starts and finishes at the Imola autodrome and passes through the town of Borgo at the halfway mark.
Unlike the road race, the time trial course has just 200m of elevation gain meaning it is expected riders will need to average in excess of 50kph to be in contention.
Mullan is a four-time National Champion in the time trial and bronze medallist at the 2017 European Championships, while Roche has 2 TT National titles to his name.
Meanwhile, the venue for the UEC Track European Championships has also been moved with the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv now hosting the event from November 11 to 15.
Ireland has traditionally performed well at the Championships with Shannon McCurley claiming a Silver medal in the Women’s Scratch race last year.
