Fresh from a breakthrough season, where he claimed a European Track Championships medal as a junior, Max Fitzgerald has signed for the UCI Continental team Skyline Pro Cycling for 2026.
Fitzgerald, who is still in sixth year in school and has his Leaving Cert to come next summer, will face into his first season as an U23 rider in 2026 and can do so with plenty of confidence following his junior years.
He has developed a reputation as a very fast finisher and having won silver in the scratch race at the Europeans in Anadia, Portugal, in July, it looks like he may have the good to make the grade internationally.
In January, Fitzgerald recorded a time of 1:04.960 in the 1km event at the Future Stars event in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. That was a time that shaved almost six tenths of a second off the previous Irish junior record, set by Eoin Mullen back in 2011.
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The Co Tipperary teenager has also represented Ireland on the road, including at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland last year, winning a stage. He also gained selection onto the Irish team this year for the Course de la Paix Juniors (2.Ncup) in Czech Republic.
Fitzgerald (18) joins the US-registered Team Skyline as its latest Irish signing as Conn McDunphy, Cian Keogh and Paul Kennedy have all raced in its colours this season.
And though the first phase of next year will be interrupted by his studies, Fitzgerald should get plenty of opportunity to compete in Europe early next season and, for a longer block, after he gets his exams completed.
The Irish riders on the team this year, for example, rode UCI-ranked one-day events and stage races in Canada, Spain, Greece, Norway, the US, Romania, Portugal and Italy.
