Chris Froome and Alex Dowsett directors of new British and Irish Pro Cyclists’ Association

A new organisation has been launched to represent the views of British and Irish riders at the top level of cycling.

The British and Irish Professional Cyclists’ Association (BIPCA) has Chris Froome, Alex Dowsett and Kristian House on its board of directors, and aims to represent riders' interests in the international Cyclistes Professionnels Associes (CPA). Ben Greetham is chairman, with Matt Brammeier acting as secretary/treasurer.

At present, only male riders competing at UCI WorldTour and Professional Continental level are represented, but BIPCA aims to expand this to include women and all levels of riders in the future.

A brief statement was published on BIPCA's website on Friday, saying: "The establishment of BIPCA began in January 2016, when the 34 British and Irish professional riders moved to vote for an individual to represent their interests at the Cyclistes Professionnels Associes.

"The CPA, formed in 1999 is an association of national athletes' unions, representing the entire professional peloton, at the highest level of the sport.

"Following the initial election of a single representative, the British and Irish group has now officially formed as its own national association, BIPCA.

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"BIPCA is currently a vehicle through which we can take part, and contribute to the CPA, in order to progress and improve our sport.

"As we move forward, our aim is to build our association into a full service athletes union for all male and female professional road cyclists within Great Britain and Ireland."

The association is registered in Farnham, Surrey.

Currently, the website lists the following riders as members of BIPCA:

Adam Blythe

Adam Yates

Alex Dowsett

Alex Peters

Andy Fenn

Ben Swift

Chris Froome

Chris Opie

Dan Martin

Daniel Mclay

George Harper

Geraint Thomas

Hugh Carthy

Ian Stannard

Joshua Hunt

Kristian House

Luke Rowe

Mark Cavendish

Mark McNally

Matt Brammeier

Nicholas Roche

Pete Williams

Peter Kennaugh

Phillip Deignan

Richard Handley

Ryan Mullen

Sam Bennett

Sam Williams

Scott Thwaites

Simon Yates

Stephen Clancy

Stephen Cummings

Tom Baylis

Yanto Barker