Stuart O'Grady has signed with GreenEDGE, Australia's first professional cycling team, describing his decision as a dream come true and also the "hardest decision of my career."

The veteran Australian cyclist, who has ridden the Tour de France 15 times, said representing an Australian team on the UCI Tour had been his dream ever since he moved over to road cycling in 1995 after a stunning track career.

"To ride for an Australian team has been a dream of mine since I turned pro way back in 1995. I wasn't sure such a team would come around before I retired but I'm glad it has," O'Grady said in a press conference tonight.

"I've been racing for a long time and seen the evolution of Australian cycling from guys like Phil Anderson, Neil Stephens and Patrick Jonker to myself as part of the generation that followed and now we've got an impressive group of young riders coming through."

O'Grady has signed a two-year deal with GreenEDGE. With a wealth of experience and tactical nous, he will become the team's road captain, a role he has fulfilled for the last three years at Leopard-Trek and Saxo Bank.

"There's no point having the biggest and shiniest ship in the ocean if you don't have a captain to steer it and I've think I bring plenty of experience at steering the ship," he said.

There is no better rider in the entire peleton to lead the team than 38 year-old O'Grady, who won has won Paris Roubaix, Olympic and Commonwealth gold medals and has worn the leader's yellow jersey at the Tour de France.

"I've spent quite a few years supporting the Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) at the Tour de France and Fabian (Cancellara) in the classics and, doing that job alongside Jens Voigt, we've been like a family,'' the South Australian said.

"It's been a privilege racing with those guys leaving Leopard-Trek to join GreenEDGE has been the hardest decision of my career.''

Securing O'Grady is a massive coup for GreenEDGE, and team manager Shayne Bannan, as he will be a mentor to his younger compatriots on the team, Jack Bobridge, and Cameron and Travis Meyer, as all three have promising futures but are inexperienced at the elite level.

Bannan has already stated that GreenEDGE will target the one-day classics, where tactics are critical, and individual stage victories at the Grand Tours, rather than overall honours.

"He can teach our guys stuff on the road that simply can't be communicated from the team car sitting behind the peloton," Bannan said. "And you don't stay at the top end of any sport for as long as Stuart has without doing something right. He won a silver medal at the Olympics in 1992 when Travis Meyer and Jack Bobridge were only three years old so there's a lot he can teach our younger guys."

GreenEDGE should offer plenty of excitement to Australian cycling fans in 2012, given the talent Bannan has already managed to secure. Bobridge, 21, was a junior time-trial world champion and touted by Lance Armstrong as a future star. The Meyer brothers have both won senior national titles after graduating from stellar junior careers on the track.

O'Grady's announcement came on the same day as fellow Australian Simon Gerrans celebrated one of the finest days of his professional career, securing overall honours in the Tour of Denmark.