Julie O'Hagan, past National Road Race Champion in 2004 and unbeaten National League Winner 2004, 2005 and 2006 has just signed a contract with a new UCI professional team based in the UK.
The team - Rapha/Condor, has been put together by Manager Rene Groot (Netherlands) who has a vast experience in racing at World-class level and managing women's teams on the continent.
Julie is one of 10 riders from around the world who have been selected to ride as part of this new team, which includes girls form the UK, South Africa, El Salvador, Australia, Argentina and Ireland. The sponsors of this team are Rapha, who specialise in retro cycling clothing and Condor bicycles.
Julie will be juggling a full time job teaching in Tallaght with training and racing at the highest level in the sport.
The races will be mainly UCI and World Cup races based on the continent and will start with the Vuelta El Salvador on 14th March.


Jenny Fay of the Orwell Wheelers in Dublin is also a member of the Rapha/Condor team and she is currently based full time in Australia.

Other Irish female cyclists signing for UCI teams this year include current road race champion Siobhan Dervan (Cork) who rides full time for the Lotto ladies team based in Belgium and Louise Moriarty (Dublin) who recently signed for the new team Global Racing, based in Belgium.

It is a great success for women's cycling to have 4 ladies riding at the highest level and hopefully a sign of things to come.