Martyn Irvine (Aqua Blue Sport) will make his long-awaited return to racing this week at De Brabantse Pijl (1.HC) in Belgium. He had been scheduled to make his return earlier this season but it had to be delayed over the UCI requirement for riders returning to international competition to make himself or herself available for testing.
The 2013 UCI World Scratch Champion retired from competitive cycling in 2016 and decided to return to racing with the new Irish Pro Continental team this season.
However, according to Part 14 of the UCI Rules and Regulations Governing Anti-Doping in Sport: “If a Rider in the UCI Registered Testing Pool retires in accordance with the UCI Testing & Investigations Regulations and then wishes to return to active participation in sport, the Rider shall not compete in International Events until the Rider has made himself or herself available for Testing, by giving six months prior written notice to the UCI.”
This resulted in the requirement for the Irish rider to build a profile as part of the Athlete Biological Passport.
Also due to line up alongside Irvine at the Belgian race are Adam Blythe, Matt Brammeier, Mark Christian, Andrew Fenn, Lasse Norman Hansen, Michel Kreder and Lars Petter Nordhaug.
The 197-kilometre race starts in Leuven and the riders will face 24 categorised climbs before finishing in Overijse.
