Having impressed as a junior rider, especially on the climbs, and taken in his first season as an U23 this year with Mexican Continental team Petrolike, Killian O'Brien is on the move for the 2026 campaign.
The 19-year-old from south Dublin will join fellow rising star Max Fitzgerald in the ranks of US-registered UCI Continental squad Team Skyline. And he is very hopeful of aiming for the hilly Italian races, with the Tour of the Gila in the United States also a gaol for him and the team.
O'Brien endured an injury-hit early season this year, missing out on fully benefitting from the dividends of a big winter. But he recovered and got plenty of racing in with Petrolike, before being selected onto the Irish team for the European Road Championships in France in October.
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And having competed this year in stage races like Ronde de l'Isard (2.2U), Sibiu Cycling Tour (2.1), Giro della Valle d'Aosta (2.2U) and Tour Alsace (2.2) - as well as a large number of one-day events across Europe - he is well and truly acquainted with the U23 international scene.
He joins a new team that is well used to working with Irish riders as Conn McDunphy, Cian Keogh and Paul Kennedy were all Skyline riders in 2025.
O'Brien, who was 3rd overall at the Junior Tour of Wales last year - as well as winning two Italian one-day races and the National Hill Climb Championships - says he is looking forward to the challenge.
"The step up to U23 racing last season was a steep learning curve for me," O'Brien said. "I feel I am at a level now where the goal is to fight at the front of the Italian classics and build my momentum for the 2026 season."
