Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team have added five riders to their 2027 roster, bringing in Aoife O’Brien, Raquel Queirós, Lucy Lee, Maaike Brandwagt and Ruby Isaac as the British Continental squad continues to strengthen for next season.
The five signings cover very different parts of the roster. Queirós arrives as a two-time Olympian with national titles and senior international racing behind her, Lee brings several seasons of UCI road experience, O’Brien has just produced her best Rás na mBan, and Isaac steps up from the junior ranks. Brandwagt adds a road and track background that includes specialist Derny racing.
The additions continue the growth of a team whose future was secured when Smurfit Westrock became title sponsor. The 2027 group looks increasingly capable of covering both the British domestic calendar and a wider European programme.
Aoife O’Brien steps up after Rás na mBan breakthrough
O’Brien joins after one of the strongest seasons of her career. The 22-year-old represented Ireland at international level on both road and track, but her clearest breakthrough came at September’s Rás na mBan.
She finished second on the opening stage before winning stage two into Gorey in an Ireland one-two-three ahead of Emma Jeffers and Emer Heverin. The victory also put O’Brien into the race lead, and she later finished the week as winner of the points classification.
O’Brien had already represented Ireland at the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich and has regularly challenged near the front of the Irish National Road Race Championships, finishing fifth in both 2024 and 2025. Smurfit Westrock now gives her a regular UCI team environment in which to build on that progress.
Queirós brings Olympic experience to the road squad
Queirós is the most internationally experienced of the five signings. The 26-year-old represented Portugal in mountain bike cross-country at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while also building an increasingly substantial road programme.
Her 2025 season included fifth overall at the Volta a Portugal Feminina, where she was the best Portuguese rider. She followed that in 2026 with second in the Portuguese elite road race championship and 12th at the Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar, before representing Portugal again at the European Road Championships.
Queirós has already been Portuguese time-trial champion and has won repeatedly on the national calendar. Her mountain bike background also adds technical experience to a Smurfit Westrock programme that regularly includes selective one-day races as well as flatter events.
Lucy Lee adds established UCI road results
Lee moves across after four seasons within the DAS structure and brings the strongest recent road résumé of the British senior signings. The 28-year-old has consistently performed well on hilly one-day courses and shorter stage races, with enough climbing ability to remain competitive when flatter domestic races become selective.
Her 2026 results include seventh at the Lincoln Grand Prix and third at the Lancaster Grand Prix. Internationally, she finished seventh at the 2025 Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar, while her 2024 season included eighth overall at the Volta a Portugal Feminina and a top-10 stage finish at the Tour of Britain Women.
Lee has also won major domestic races including the Ryedale Grasscrete Women’s Grand Prix and Curlew Cup. That combination of international experience and familiarity with the British calendar should give Smurfit Westrock another rider capable of taking leadership responsibility from the start of the season.
Brandwagt adds road and track experience
Dutch rider Maaike Brandwagt joins after racing on the road with O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes in 2026. Her road programme has included the Bretagne Ladies Tour, Omloop van Borsele and Dutch national time-trial championship, but much of her distinctive experience has come on the track.
Brandwagt has competed internationally behind the Derny and represented the Netherlands in the discipline. She took bronze at the Dutch National Derny Championships in 2025, adding to earlier national-level podiums and extensive track racing.
That background gives Smurfit Westrock a rider accustomed to high-speed positioning and repeated efforts. At 28, Brandwagt also adds experience to balance the younger additions to the roster.
Ruby Isaac makes the step from junior racing
Isaac is the youngest of the five arrivals and will make the move into senior UCI racing after two seasons that have marked her out as one of Britain’s stronger junior prospects.
She won the 2025 British junior road race title with a solo attack in difficult wet conditions, holding off the field after making her move with two laps remaining. In 2026 she backed that up on the international junior calendar, finishing fifth overall at the Emakume Gazteen Itzulia after also taking fifth on the uphill final stage and fifth in the mountains classification.
The move from CAMS Majaco gives the 18-year-old a direct route into a senior Continental programme. Her strongest results have come when races become harder rather than in straightforward sprints, giving Smurfit Westrock a rider to develop patiently around climbing and selective one-day racing.
Five signings give Smurfit Westrock more depth for 2027
The five additions cover markedly different needs. O’Brien arrives with momentum from a breakthrough Rás na mBan, Queirós brings Olympic and national-team experience, Lee adds proven senior road results, Brandwagt offers track-derived versatility and Isaac gives the team a long-term development project.
That spread matters for a Continental team whose calendar can move quickly between British national series races, UCI one-day events and stage races abroad. Smurfit Westrock now have more options for both immediate results and longer-term rider development as the 2027 squad continues to take shape.
