Caoimhe O’Brien gets her World Tour career underway this week after landing a contract with EF Education-Oatly over the winter

Caoimhe O’Brien over the winter became the latest Irish rider to turn pro, after penning a deal with EF Education-Oatly, and the 23-year-old from Westmeath will be getting her 2026 campaign underway in the deep end this week.

She will line up next to compatriot Marine Lenehan, who has already raced this season for Lidl Trek but will also be pinning numbers on for her first stage race of 2026, at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana (2.Pro).

The four-stage event features plenty of climbing between the start on Thursday and its conclusion in Valencia on Sunday. But it is the presence of the big names and their teams that will ramp up the difficulty.

O’Brien and Lenehan are themselves, of course, riding for two of the biggest teams and they will be going into this race looking for results.

The EF Education-Oatly line-up for this fixture includes the world road race champion, Magdeleine Vallieres, not to mention French TT champion, and

impressive climber, Cédrine Kerbaol.

Italian climber, Gaia Realini, and former world champion, Elisa Balsamo, not to mention British star Anna Henderson, are among Lenehan’s team selection for this race.

However, European road race champion and last year’s Vuelta winner, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ), also lines up, for his season debut, as the woman to beat.

British teenager Cat Ferguson (Movistar Team) will fancy her chances for stage and overall glory, especially in the absence of a big summit finish.

Also in the field are UAE Team ADQ’s Pauliena Rooijakkers – 4th at Giro and 3rd at Tour de France – and Maeva Squiban, who won two stages on the Tour last year.

Thursday’s opening stage – some 121km starting and finish in Gandia – features a 6km cat 2 climb crested with 16km to go, which may result in an early GC sort-out.

Saturday’s stage 3 – some 128km from Agost to La Nucía – looks like it may be the liveliest, depending on how its race. It features cat 1 and cat 2 climbs in the final third and about 15km of descending to the finish.