Probably the most difficult decision of Tarja Owens's 24 years came in the wake of her participation in the Olympics last year. Opting to move to a foreign country - to an alien culture with an unfamiliar language - and to live among strangers is a big test in itself.

The difficulty is accentuated when your long-term boyfriend must base himself more than 4,000 miles away to advance his own racing career.

Imagine dealing with all that when you are struggling to adapt to racing at a professional level, in a wing of your sport that you have little experience of.

"It has been probably the hardest thing I have ever done," Owens admits of her decision to leave behind the familiar and join the Michela Fanini women's professional cycling team in Tuscany in February.

"The first two months were very difficult. I have never felt so alienated, so alone, in my life."

The language barrier was a big part of the problem - "I'd sit in a room with the team jabbering away and understand nothing" - but so too were the closed ranks and tunnel-vision approach of the other women.

For someone coming from the vastly different world of mountain-bike competition, the isolation did little to help her adapt to road-racing.

In that light, her debut this week in the women's Giro d'Italia - the Tour of Italy - is a formidable achievement. Three weeks ago the Michela Fanini team named its eight-rider squad; getting the call-up ahead of more experienced team-mates is a huge boost for her. It is also the first time an Irish woman will compete in cycling's second-biggest stage race.

"I was really surprised to get picked, but delighted too," she says. "This is my first year road-racing, but I think part of the reason is that I have the right temperament. You have to be able to put up and shut up. There are a few prima donnas who can cause trouble from time to time.

"But I do what I am told and accept that I must work for the leaders. That's my first goal; my second is to get through the two weeks and become stronger. And my third is to learn. I think the team boss recognises that."

Owens's selection has caused resentment among some of the omitted riders because she's new, an outsider and unproven in the big tours. And, frankly, she got the nod and they didn't.

Haling from Delgany in Co. Wicklow, Tarja Owens's uncle is the former Irish international Peter Doyle. But her reason for taking up the sport was purely to unwind from school exams. The bug bit, she used the bike more and more - and now, years later, she finds herself riding one of the biggest races in cycling.

The Tour of Italy is a tough challenge for Owens. Like Ciarβn Power, who rode the men's race last year as a first-year professional, she can expect to suffer along the way. Climbing is likely to be the biggest ordeal - "they go so fast uphill," she says , she is happy to put team duties ahead of personal ambition.

The learning curve is steep. Since that first excursion eight years ago, she has concentrated almost totally on off-road mountain-biking, a world of fat tyres rather than high-pressure tubulars, forest tracks instead of asphalt.

Slogging alone through mud and dirt is far removed from buzzing along at breakneck speeds among a jostling bunch of 150 other competitors.

The Olympics provoked the change of scene. Qualifying on a wild-card allocation, the six-times national champion went to Australia hoping for a respectable performance, an experience-gathering investment that would reap dividends in Athens in 2004.

But the day brought crushing disappointment. Owens punctured a tyre during her event, and the gas canisters designed to inflate the spare tube failed to function. She completed the course, running with her bike hoisted on-10 finish in four years' time.

Despite the misfortune, there was also the realisation that she had a lot of work to do if she was to achieve that long-term goal. Together with her coach, the former Tour de France stage winner Martin Earley, she decided to give road-racing a shot.

That meant leaving the Helly Hansen team in England and, even harder, living apart from her boyfriend, Robin Seymour, for much of the 2001 season.

It was a mutual decision. Seymour is a multiple national champion and competed in the men's cross-country race in Sydney. He, too, felt a change of scene was necessary to improve and, assessing his strengths, felt American races suited best. Phone calls and e-mails would be their sole contact for most of the season.

"That was one of the hardest things to do," says Owens. "I thought it would test the relationship, and it certainly has: it has been very difficult. Last year I was living with Robin, racing with him on the same team, seeing him every day, and it has gone from that to nothing. I really miss having him around. My phone bill has been absolutely huge since I got here."

Next year she is not sure where she will race. "I have got a lot stronger this season and think I will stay abroad," she says, "but myself and Robin will have to live a lot closer."

If the Tour of Italy goes well, there is a chance of a start in the women's Tour de France. Otherwise Owens will revert to mountain-bike racing for the latter half of the season, racing in world-cup events in Austria and Switzerland and then the European Championships.

A world-cup race in America will reunite her with Seymour; then, provided she is selected, she will stay on to do the world championships in Colorado.

Money will be tight at that stage. Although she has a professional licence, she doesn't get much from the Michela Fanini team. "I applied so late to join that I can't complain. I was happy just to get the place," she says.

Instead, her 2001 season has been financed by a £9,000 grant from the Irish Sports Council and a bank loan.

One complication of her hectic schedule is that she will be unable to join the Irish team in a French stage race. "Pauline McKay asked me to go, but I think I will be worn out after the Giro. She is doing a great job trying to get the women's scene up and running, and I feel bad about not taking part."

But the truth is that she's already doing much for Irish cycling. Racing in the Olympics, competing on the professional circuit, making the Tour of Italy team: it is all inspiration for other Irish women. It makes them realise it can be done.

"There are many more women involved in the sport over here in Italy," she says. " Maybe it is an Irish thing this notion that you can have a hobby but then you must give it up, settle down, get married and have lots of children. You know," she says with a laugh "maybe I am the one who has got it wrong, but, sorry, that isn't for me."

The Irish Cycling Federation is on 01-8551522, with a website at www.irishcycling.com