Sofia Bertizzolo has joined CCC-Liv for the 2020 season after being cut from Movistar's roster because of a legal employment issue related to her dual employment as a professional cyclist and as a member of the Italian police cycling team.
CCC-Liv announced the 22-year-old Italian as the final rider on the team's 15-rider 2020 roster.
The CCC-Liv team, like Movistar, is one of eight new UCI Women's WorldTeams, which comes with obligations for minimum salaries, benefits and insurance. The team is registered in Poland but is managed from the Netherlands rather than Spain, where Bertizzolo's contract ran up against employment laws that prevented her from holding two full time positions at the same time.
“I am extremely happy with this transfer and also grateful to CCC-Liv, as the team has always shown an interest in me," Bertizzolo said.
"This team is a good choice for me, because I can take the next step in my career with them. The team is very experienced and has built a solid organisation with people who have been involved with the team for a long time, also having generated many champions over the years."
Bertizzolo this year finished third in the UCI Women's WorldTour young riders classification, taking fourth at the Tour of Flanders. She was best young rider in the Giro Rosa in 2018 and won the mountains classification in the Giro Toscana and Festival Elsy Jacobs.
She joins top riders Marianne Vos, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio in the CCC-Liv team.
“We have had Sofia on our radar for a long time and are happy that we managed to reach an agreement at the last minute," CCC-Liv's general manager and team owner Eric van den Boom said.
"Already in 2018, by winning the youth ranking in the Women’s WorldTour, she has shown that she is a rising talent. This year she was in the leading group in the Tour of Flanders and she nicely finished fourth. She can perfectly manage climbs and moreover she has a strong sprint in her legs, having proven this in the opening stage of the Emakumeen Bira earlier in the year, among other things. With Sofia we get a versatile rider and we can be even more dominant in 2020."
Other newcomers include Poland's Aurela Nerlo and Marta Jaskulska (Poland) and Soraya Paladin (Italy), with the entire 2019 squad returning. All riders who raced for the team in 2019 will stay the next season.
"We have become stronger across the board and, moreover, the team now has even more qualities. We would like to take advantage of this, starting in the spring. For classics such as the Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, we are holding several cards," said sports director Jeroen Blijlevens.
CCC-Liv for 2020
- Sofia Bertizzolo (Italy)
- Valerie Demey (Belgium)
- Inge van der Heijden (the Netherlands)
- Marta Jaskulska (Poland)
- Jeanne Korevaar (Netherlands)
- Evy Kuijpers (Netherlands)
- Aurela Nerlo (Poland)
- Marta Lach (Poland)
- Riejanne Markus (Netherlands)
- Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South-Africa)
- Soraya Paladin (Italy)
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Netherlands)
- Agnieszka Skalniak (Poland)
- Sabrina Stultiens (Netherlands)
- Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
