As final transfers are announced and teams present their 2020 line-ups, the UCI Women’s Continental Team, WCC Team, is pleased to reveal its composition.
The UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, registered a women’s team with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for the first time in 2019. It was made up essentially of the UCI WCC’s trainee riders who come from the world over to benefit from the centre’s professional coaching staff and gain race experience throughout Europe and further afield.
Forming the WCC Team meant the young women could race in higher-level events, rub shoulders with professional teams and athletes, and receive international exposure.
After a successful maiden year, five of the 2019 squad have signed contracts with European teams, while two return to the WCC Team which is made up of nine incredibly talented young women from as many countries. As well as the two riders from last year, the team includes two Juniors moving up from the UCI WCC’s Junior programme, a UCI WCC track specialist and another four young riders who participated in a talent identification camp at the UCI WCC in Aigle, Switzerland, in October.
“I know all of them individually and am confident they will work together well and form a really good group,” said their UCI WCC coach Adam Szabó. “It is a very young team – our two senior riders will turn 24 next year and the others are between 18 and 20. “It is exactly the sort of team I was looking for: a mixture of riders from Europe and outside of Europe, young and not more than one athlete from any one National Federation.”
Adam Szabó said that the team would come together for the first time at the beginning of February 2020 at a two-week training camp followed by their first race, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad-vrouwen elite in Belgium at the end of the same month. Although their full racing calendar is still to be confirmed, it will most certainly be an extended version of the one they raced in 2019.
Team members
Roni Fishman (Israel), 20 years old
One of the strongest riders on the talent identification camp, where she showed not only physical but also mental strength. She is a positive and energetic team player with some previous race experience.
Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru (Ethiopia), 23 years old
Embarking on her third year with the UCI WCC, she was already part of the UCI WCC Team in 2019. Her experience racing in Europe has highlighted her climbing abilities and she will no doubt have her eyes on the Aigle-Martigny 2020 UCI Road World Championships.
Akvile Gedraityte (Lithuania), 18 years old
Lithuania’s Junior National Champion in the road race and time trial, she also finished fourth in the 2019 UEC Junior European Championships road race. Embarking on her first year amongst the Elite, she has enormous potential and the capacity to race at international level.
Veronika Jandová (Czech Republic), 18 years old
Veronika trained at the UCI WCC in 2019 where she proved to be one of the best riders in the Junior Women’s group that was preparing for the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire (GBR). She is mature for her age, with potential to develop into a solid Elite rider.
Amber Joseph (Barbados), 19 years old
Part of the UCI WCC’s track programme, Amber joins the WCC Team with a two-fold objective: to gain in endurance to benefit her track cycling, and to lend her sprinting abilities to the road team.
Anastasiya Kolesava (Belarus), 19 years old
A big talent with great potential, she was part of the WCC Team in 2019. Moving into her second season as an Elite rider, she may get the chance to put her talent to use in a leadership role.
Tereza Medvedová (Slovakia), 23 years old
Tereza comes to the WCC Team with more than four years’ experience racing at continental level. This experience, together with her maturity and ability to read a race could make her natural leader.
Catalina Anais Soto Campos (Chile), 18 years old
Coming from the UCI WCC’s Junior track and road programmes, she distinguished herself in 2019 at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships (silver in the Scratch Race) and the UCI Road World Championships, where she was a key member of the day’s breakaway. Watch for her sprint finishes with the WCC Team.
Magdeleine Vallières-Mill(Canada), 18 years old
She successfully signed off from the Junior ranks with a top-ten placing in the Junior road race at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. A pure climber, Magdeleine stood out from the rest in the climbing test at the talent id camp and will no doubt be targeting the Aigle-Martigny 2020 UCI Road World Championships.