The teams that will take part in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour later this year have been unveiled, with two Irish riders in line for a potential start in the race.
The event will be harder this year, with seven stages rather than five, and will unfold on the roads of Spain between May 1st and 7th, getting underway in Torrevieja with a 14.5km team time trial. There are also two summit finishes, on stage 5 to Mirador de Peñas Llanas and on the last day of racing to Lagos de Covadonga.
Mia Griffin's Israel Premier Tech Roland is a World Tour team and, as such, it has an automatic right to ride the race and has been named in the list of 12 World Tour teams that start this year's event.
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Fiona Mangan's new Spanish outfit, Soltec Team, is among the 12 Continental teams to secure an invite to the race, which is a big boost for it. And that raises the prospect of Mangan also being in the running to ride La Vuelta this year.
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Ireland has only ever had one female rider to compete in the stage races now referred to as the women's Grand Tours. Back in 2001, Tarja Ownens - an Wicklow-based MTB Olympian based in Co Wicklow - rode the women's Giro with the Michaela Fanini team.
No Irishwoman has ever ridden the women's Tour de France, though Griffin's team will also be competing in that race this year - eight stages starting on July 30th. The team also rode the women's Giro last year as a Continental team; a 10-stage race starting on July 9th this year.
It means the Kilkenny women, Team Ireland track commitments allowing, will have a great chance of making her Grand Tour debut this season. Indeed, riding such hard stage races would be ideal preparation for her track cycling - where she competes in team pursuit and other endurance events.
Megan Armitage's Arkéa Pro Cycling Team is a Continental team with no World Tour squad, meaning it could get an invite for both the women's Giro or Tour. While those races have not yet been announced their invitees for this year, Arkéa Pro Cycling Team competed in the women's Tour last year.
Imogen Cotter is riding for Fenix-Deceuninck Continental this year while Alice Sharpe is with Israel Premier Tech Roland Development and Lara Gillespie has signed for UAE Development Team. All three of those teams are Continental level feeder teams for their World Tour sister teams, meaning they will not ride a Grand Tour this year.
