Teams of five will represent Ireland in the under-23 race at the world championships at Verona in northern Italy today and in the junior event tomorrow. No Irishman has attained the standard required for the elite championship on Sunday.

David McQuaid, David O'Loughlin, Derek Finnegan, Keith Gallagher and Paul Roland are in action today while tomorrow Daniel and Denis Lynch, Willie Curtin, Michael Dennehy and Brian Ahern contest the race for juniors, won last year at Valkenburg in Holland by Mark Scanlon. After a disappointing season with the Dutch Rabobank team Scanlon is not involved this time. He is eligible for the under-23 race but since taking the world junior title he has won only the Christmas hamper race at Carrick-on-Suir and a stage of Ras Connachta at Cong a month ago. Currently he doing light training at home in Sligo and having his injured knee attended to.

McQuaid (20) has been racing with an Italian team, based near Verona, and on one of his trips home he won the Irish under-23 championship at Cork at the end of August and followed up a week later with another good win at Naas. He and O'Loughlin are the main Irish hopes in their event but the other members of the under-23 team also have plenty of experience of Continental racing. Daniel and Denis Lynch from Kanturk may be the first twins to take part in a world road race championship.

They earned selection with some good performances during the season and they line up tomorrow morning with Kanturk clubmates, junior champion Dennehy and Curtin - it must also be unique for four members of the same club to be on the one team in a world title event. Completing the Irish selection is Junior Tour winner Ahern of Orwell Wheelers.

A repeat of last year's triumph seems unlikely. The circuit is close to 16 kilometres and the juniors cover 130km with 170 for the under-23s.

The elite race on Sunday should provide another great battle for supremacy and most attention will focus on Jan Ullrich after his comeback win in the Tour of Spain and his success in Wednesday's time trial.

Another Irish team of Ciaran Power, Eugene Moriarty, Michael McNena, Dermot Finnegan and Morgan Fox take part in the Sun Tour in Australia from next Thursday in Melbourne to October 24th.