Team Ireland has revealed its nine-rider squad for the 2026 Coupe de l’Avenir, with team manager Emma Wray and the selection commission choosing riders across the 65cc, 85cc and Open classes for this year’s event in Belgium.
Following a huge response during the application process, Wray thanked everyone who put their names forward before confirming the selected riders. Mason Shields, Jake Sayers and Brendan Mc Areavey will represent Ireland in the 65cc class, while Daniel Devine, Daniel McGovern and Ethan Gawley have been selected for the 85cc category. Ollie Holland, Lewis Spratt and Alex Henderson complete the squad in the Open class.
Wray is now looking forward to working with the riders ahead of the September event and is also seeking support from sponsors and through the team’s fundraising efforts to help make the trip to Belgium a success.
Emma Wray (team manager):
“I’d obviously like to thank the commission and people behind selecting me for this role. We’ve had a crazy amount of interest, which has been amazing to see in the application process, so I want to thank each and every parent for sending in an application.
“Unfortunately, not everyone can get selected, so we have tried our best to pick the best three riders for the job. Myself and the commission have selected the following riders for the 65 class in no particular order. We have Mason Shields, Jake Sayers and Brendan Mc Areavey. For the 85 class we have Daniel Devine, Daniel McGovern and Ethan Gawley.
“For our open class we have Ollie Holland, Lewis Spratt and Alex Henderson. I just want to congratulate the boys for getting onto the team and I’m really excited to get to Belgium and starting to work with them there and making sure the weekend runs as smoothly as possible. I want to try and keep the comment section as clean and as positive as possible, so if anyone has any problems with the team selection, just drop me a message and let’s keep the comment section nice and positive and support the boys going across to Belgium in September.
“We also have GoFundMe page. If anyone can help in any way, obviously it’s going to be greatly appreciated. We’re going to have a few different sponsorship options and we’re still looking for a main sponsor for the event, which is going to be on all the team jerseys and all the pit wear.
“If anyone’s interested, please shoot me a message and we will get the ball rolling with that. So for now I just want to say thank you to everyone and really looking forward to getting to Belgium in September”.
