26-year-old Megan Armitage is set to become the first Irishwoman to ride the Tour de France Femmes later this month.
The Offaly-born cyclist rides for the Arkéa Pro cycling team. In March of this year she became the first Irishwoman to win a UCI-ranked stage race at the Vuelta Extremadura Feminas.
Armitage became a cyclist relatively recently. According to an interview she gave in VELO earlier this year, while studying for her law degree she got hooked on running — and not any running, but skyrunning, in which all the races are run at altitudes of 2000 metres or higher.
She was hoping for a professional career after her graduation, but soon injured her calf and took up cycling in recovery, and quickly excelled.
It was only around six months ago that she signed with Arkéa, her first professional team.
The endurance that she built up skyrunning (and studying law) will surely help her during the Tour, held this year July 23-30.
