Connor Swift, Gabz Cullaigh and Adam Blythe eye European glory

Adam Blythe of Lotto Soudal at the National Championships (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

The Yorkshire trio of Connor Swift, Adam Blythe and Gabz Cullaigh will join Mark Cavendish in representing Great Britain at next week’s European Road Championships.

That quartet, along with Tour de Yorkshire winner Chris Lawless and Alex Dowsett – fresh from the Tour de France – form the soix-man team for the men’s road race in Alkmaar, Holland, from August 7 to 11.

Traditionally, the European Championships are not very high on the list of priorities but with the UCI Road World Championships to come in Yorkshire next month, they represent an ample tune-up against a strong field.

For Sheffield’s Blythe and Doncaster’s Swift, the 2017 and 2018 national road race champions respectively, it is a good opportunity to press their case for inclusion in the British squad for next month’s global gathering on home roads. Holmfirth’s Cullaigh will also be keen to make his mark.

Gabriel Cullaigh of Wiggins Le Col at the Otley Grand Prix (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com)

Cavendish has a point to prove following his controversial omission from Dimension Data’s Tour de France team last month.

Alice Barnes – who won the national road and time-trial titles in June – is named as part of the elite women’s squad alongside her sister, Hannah. Nikki Juniper and Hayley Simmonds are also part of the road race team, as is national under-23 champion, Anna Henderson. Alice Barnes and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Simmonds will both contest the time-trial.

In the women’s under-23 category, Great Britain will be represented by Rhona Callander, Pfeiffer Georgi and Elizabeth Holden in the road race, with Holden and Henderson lining up in the time trial. A six-man team will contest the men’s under-23 road race: Jim Brown, Joe Nally, Will Tidball, Ethan Vernon, Matt Walls and Fred Wright.