Ciarán Power competed in the men’s road race at two Olympic Games – finishing 73rd at Sydney 2000 and 13th at Athens 2004 – which at the time was the highest finishing position ever achieved by an Irish road cyclist at an Olympic Games.

From Waterford, Power turned professional in 2000 with the Linda McCartney Racing Team – the first Irish professional road cyclist since Stephen Roche in 1993 – and on the eve of Sydney rode the Giro d’Italia as a first-year professional, achieving two top-ten stage finishes.

He was a two-time winner of the FBD Insurance Rás and spent four years building towards his finest moment: the 13th-place finish in Athens 2004, where he spent much of the race in the breakaway as a genuine medal contender.

Dan Martin later equalled this result, and it was surpassed by Ben Healy’s 10th place at the Paris 2024 Road Race, but it stood as Ireland’s best Olympic road cycling performance for many years.