Team TIBCO and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women’s Teams have both announced their new rider signings, which should make 2014 a great year for women’s cycling.
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women’s Team Announces Signed Riders
Momentum Sports Groups, LLC, owner and operator of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team, today announced the first seven athletes set to join its professional women’s team. Initially announced in July, the team expects to have a roster that will include between 10-12 total members when it begins racing the 2014 season.
Among the new signees are reigning US criterium national champion Alison Powers, winner of the 2013 Giro d’Italia Femminile Mara Abbott, and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Lauren Tamayo. The team will announce the remaining members scheduled to join the squad later this fall.
General Manager and Team Director, Mike Tamayo, said, “We are excited about the addition of our women’s program and looking forward to the 2014 season. We are pleased to announce the signing of several outstanding professional athletes.”
“We anticipate and expect the same drive for excellence from our women’s team that has been established by our men’s team and the riders we are bringing on board will be instrumental in delivering similar results. When hiring for the team, I focused on who is the best in their respective discipline – sprinting, climbing or TT. Then, we went after that talent,” Tamayo concluded.
About the Riders
Alison Powers is the current US criterium national champion and former US national time trial champion (2008). In 2013, the 33 year-old Powers won the Redlands Bicycle Classic, was third at the Tour of Elk Grove, the US National Road Championship and the US National Time Trial Championship, and won stages at the Cascade Classic, Tulsa Tough, Tour of the Gila and Redlands Bicycle Classic. The time trial specialist’s accolades include the Sea Otter Classic (2012), Cascade Classic (2012), Joe Martin Stage Race (2009 and 2010) and the Pan Am Continental Time Trial Championship (2007).
Mara Abbott is a two-time US national road race champion (2007, 2010). The 27-year-old won this year’s Giro d’Italia Femminile, Tour of the Gila and San Dimas Stage Race. Known for her climbing skills, Abbot has also won the Giro d’Italia Femminile (2010), Cascade Classic (2010) and Tour of the Gila (2007 and 2010).
Lauren Tamayo comes to the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling team with a strong history on the track. The 29-year-old earned a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the inaugural women’s team pursuit. At the 2010 Pan Am Continental Championships, Tamayo was part of the world-record setting team pursuit with a time of 3:19.569. On the road, Tamayo finished on the podium at Le Tour de Grand Montréal (2009), the Tour de Bretagne Féminin (2008) and the San Dimas Stage Race (2007). In addition, she was third overall at the Tour of Qatar in 2008.
Ruth Winder was the best young rider at the 2013 Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic after finishing 15th. The 20-year-old has won several national titles on the track, including the team pursuit at the 2013 Elite Timed Track Nationals. At the 2013 Pan Am Continental Championships, Winder and Tamayo were teammates in the team pursuit. On the road, Winder has won the Land Park Criterium (2013), Tour of Somerville (2012) and Cherry Pie Criterium (2012).
Rushlee Buchanan, New Zealand national road race champion in 2010 and team pursuit bronze medalist at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championship; competed as part of the 2012 New Zealand Olympic Team in the team pursuit. The 25-year-old was runner-up at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic (2010), stage winner at the Cascade Classic (2011) and three-time stage winner during the 2010 USA Crits Speed Week.
Coryn Rivera is known as one of the fastest sprinters in the United States. The 21-year-old has amassed 47 national titles in three disciplines: road, track and cyclocross. Titles include collegiate road national champion in the team omnium (2012), Under 23 criterium national champion (2011), bronze medalist at the UCI Junior Road World Championship (2010), and bronze medalist at the UCI Junior Track Omnium World Championship (2010). In her first year as a professional, Rivera won the Kern County Women’s Stage Race (2008) and since has won the San Rafael Twilight Criterium (2011) and Pittsburg Twilight Criterium (2011) and was runner-up at Tulsa Tough (2010).
Alexis Ryan, at just 19 years of age, is the reigning Under 23 national criterium champion. In 2013, the all-arounder was fifth on Stage 3 at the Tour Feminin en Limousin, fourth on Stage 4 of the Tour de Bretagne and third in both the road race and criterium at the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic. Ryan was a junior national cyclocross champion twice (2008 and 2010), junior national criterium champion twice (2011 and 2012), junior national road champion (2011 and 2012) twice, and junior national team pursuit champion (2012).
“We are proud to bring this group of elite athletes into the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team family,” added Thierry Attias, President of Momentum Sports Group. “In addition to their accomplishments on the bike, we are looking forward to having the members of our women’s team represent the UnitedHealthcare brand as ambassadors of healthy living in the many community events we do throughout the country.”
Team TIBCO Signs Riders
2014 will mark the 10th season of racing for Team TIBCO/To the Top, and the Team’s roster is rapidly taking shape for next season. The team will be returning a solid core of riders who helped make 2013 one of the Team’s best season ever, both in the United States and internationally.
“The 2013 squad achieved our top goals domestically, winning the NRC and Women’s Prestige Series overall team titles, and delivered at the highest level in international racing,” said Team TIBCO Founder and General Manager Linda Jackson. “It was important for us to return a strong group from this year so that we can make our 10th year an even bigger success.”
Headlining the returning group will be 2012 U.S. Olympian Shelley Olds, and 2013 Women’s Prestige Series overall winner Claudia Haüsler. Olds and Haüsler finished 2nd and 3rd in the USA Cycling NRC individual standings and delivered numerous wins and podiums for the Team this season, both nationally and internationally. Olds will also be a part of the U.S. team for the World Championships later this month.
Also returning will be Team TIBCO veterans Amanda Miller, who won a stage of the Cascade Classic and the Clarenden Cup this year, as well as Samantha Schneider, who continued to deliver results, including a pair of wins and the overall title at the Tour of America’s Dairyland.
Lauren Stephens returns as well after proving her abilities with a number of big wins, including the Crystal Cup, and stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix and Cascade Classic.
2012 Canadian Olympian Jasmin Glaesser also returns for 2014. In her first full road season, Glaesser regularly donned the Best Young Rider’s jersey at races, including the Cascade Classic and the Drenthe World Cup, where she also won the Sprinter’s jersey, an honor she also earned at the Lotto Belisol Tour..
First-year pro Kristabel Doebel-Hickok will also return to the Team for her second pro season after showing her climbing abilities and willingness to ride tirelessly in support of her teammates day after day.
“We’re very happy to have this core group of returning riders,” said Team Directeur Sportif Manel Lacambra, who will continue to direct the team in 2014. “This group came together very well early on in the season and began to deliver great results from the start, and then just kept getting better at every race.
“Having a good group of riders return who have raced a lot together will give us a head start on making our 10th season even more successful,” he added.
Team TIBCO is also adding several new riders for the 2014 season with the intent of maintaining its level of excellence for years to come. With an eye on the future, Team TIBCO is happy to announce that Canadian Anika Todd and American Scotti Wilborne will join this strong core group of returning riders.
Above Photo – Mara Abbott was the overall winner at the San Dimas Stage Race. Photo © Christy Nicholson / EchelonDesignPhoto.com
