Maeve Gallagher leads Lara Gillespie during their junior days, and now Gallagher is following her former junior rival into the pro racing scene, her first such move after five years in college (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Maeve Gallagher, the former international road rider and international triathlete, is on something of a comeback trail after signing for UK outfit Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team.
It is Gallagher’s first time to join a UCI Continental team and signals intent to get back at it on the bike with full focus in 2027, which is an exciting prospect for herself, Irish cycling fans and, in time, hopefully the Irish national team.
Gallagher was a top junior rider in her day and regularly went head-to-head with Lara Gillespie, who has been ripping it up internationally as a World Tour rider in recent years.
However, unlike Gillespie, Gallagher was also an international triathlete and runner, with cycling and triathlon to the fore in vying for her attentions.
For example, in 2019 she won the junior road race at the National Road Championships in Derry – with Gillespie and Caoimhe O’Brien, now also a World Tour rider, in 2nd and 3rd.
Gallagher also rode the Europeans and the Worlds for Ireland that year – placing 38th and 25th. And at the end of that year she took her first big international win in triathlon, at the ATU Sprint Triathlon Cup in Dakar, Senegal.
In between her cycling and triathlon, also in 2019, she represented Ireland in the U20 race at the European Cross-country Championships; competing for Ireland in three sports in a matter of months.
Since then, she has completed five years in university, while also continuing to compete in triathlon and ride some bike races.
She has raced a little on the road in Ireland every year since she was a junior, including riding the National Road Championships some years and Rás na mBan, which she completed only last month.
However, triathlon has been her main focus over the past six years, though she has endured frustration in having to deal with repeated stress fractures from running.
But now comes a big cycling move in signing for Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, which rode the Tour of Britain this year as a well as series of UCI-ranked races in Europe.
And having just turned 25-years-old last month, Mayo woman Gallagher still has plenty of time to make serious strides into pro cycling, if she chooses that route in the next few years.