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New Australian women’s team Liv AlUla Jayco, which established after the merger of Liv Racing TeqFind and GreenEDGE Cycling, has announced its squad for 2024. The Women’s Continental Team has two Australians, with a mix of other nationalities to make up it’s inaugural squad.
Alyssa Polites (Australia) competed for the Jayco-AlUla World Team and takes a demotion to the Continental squad after an admitted ‘rough patch’ in 2023. The 20-year-old will get a chance to gain experience on the Continental Team before being thrust into the top level again.
“After a rough patch, the switch to our Continental Team will give me the opportunity to find my feet again as a rider and within the peloton enabling me to properly develop as a racer,” said Polites. “I want to increase confidence in my own capabilities and hope for a lot of collective wins with the girls during the season next year.
“We really have a super exciting bunch of girls that I think will be able to complement well with all the ranging capabilities and strengths each of us possess. I hope to make a difference within the team next season and beyond by developing leadership skills in the effort to procure shared successes as a team.”
Fellow Australian Mackenzie Coupland will join Polites on the squad, the West Australian winning the young rider category in the National Road Series in 2023, and is recognised a prodigious talent on the local scene. She won the recent Tour of Tasmania, and produced strong results at the World Championships as a junior, top 10 in both the road race and time trial.
“Although I have had great results, it has not been an easy year for me,” said Coupland. “The recent win in the Tour of Tasmania was therefore very important, I competed there as a U19 rider against the strongest girls in Australia.
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episode • Cycling: National Road Series 2023 • cycling • 26m
episode • Cycling: National Road Series 2023 • cycling • 26m
“The switch to Liv AlUla Jayco is a pretty important one, because I’m transitioning into U23 category which is a pretty big step. With the support of the team, it will be significantly easier. I was a bit nervous about it at first, but as the time gets closer, I’m getting more excited.
“I, personally, want to gain race knowledge and finish races over in Europe with the elite women. I think I can improve the most in bunch skills, because I haven’t had a lot of experience in the larger fields at European races.”
The riders with the most experience of top-level racing are Kaia Schmid (United States) and Matilde Vitillo (Italy, with Vitillo having won a stage of Vuelta a Burgos Feminas in 2022 from a breakaway.
The team includes young talents Emma Jeffers (Great Britain), Noä Jansen (The Netherlands), Leila Gschwentner (Austria) and Hélène Hesters (Belgium), while also featuring the first female Saudi Arabian cyclist, Moroj Adil, on a UCI-sanctioned team.
Like the World Team, the Continental set-up will share the same name, uniform, and Liv bikes. The race schedule for the new squad is yet to be announced, but an emphasis was placed on the closeness with the new squad and the established World Tour set-up.
“The Continental Team is an important pillar within our overall ecosystem” explained Eric van den Boom – General Manager Women’s Continental Team Liv AlUla Jayco. “In this team, we bring together young talents with growth potential, no matter what their background is.
“We offer them a pathway, with professional guidance, along which they can develop step by step. This way, they will get optimally prepared for the challenging WorldTour races. The goal is to see them being successful at the highest level one day.
"The Continental Team will operate close to the WorldTeam and offers the riders a lot of personal coaching and access to facilities also available to the WorldTeam. We are thus laying a solid foundation for our talent development, which is good for the individual riders, the team, and the future of women’s cycling.”
2024 Liv AlUla Jayco Women’s Continental Team:
Moroj Adil (Saudi Arabia, born: 9 February 1998)
Mackenzie Coupland (Australia, born: 1 September 2005)
Leila Gschwentner (Austria, born: 23 October 2003)
Hélène Hesters (Belgium, born: 3 January 2005)
Noä Jansen (The Netherlands, born: 26 November 2000)
Emma Jeffers (Great Britain, born: 11 November 2004)
Alyssa Polites (Australia, born: 2 February 2003)
Kaia Schmid (United States, born: 7 January 2003)
Matilde Vitillo (Italy, born: 8 March 2001)
