Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling united for their opening team training camp in Mallorca from January 23 to February 14. The three-week camp gives the riders plenty of time to get to know one another, get used to their new equipment, plan the season ahead and get in long warm-weather training rides. They also unveiled their new kit, made by Endura, to showcase new title sponsor Cervelo.
“We usually do a longer camp at the beginning of the year,” team manager Thomas Campana told Cyclingnews. “The time is there to meet the riders, get to know each other and then do medical tests, bike fittings and this year we are spending more time with new technology arriving in the team.
“That’s the new Rotor UNO groupset. We are the first professional cycling team in the world that is appointed to use and test this product. So that’s taken extra time but in general we need half a week to prepare all these things then we will have two weeks for training and meetings around our goals.”
The riders in attendance are Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Lotta Lepistö, Lisa Klein, Clara Koppenburg, Carmen Small, Joëlle Numainville, Nicole Hanselmann, Stephanie Pohl and Gabrielle Pilote Fortin. Moolman-Pasio will leave camp early to participate in the South African National Championships.
The team will focus their season goals on the Women’s WorldTour, and for some, the Olympic Games, along with development objectives for the younger riders.
“There’s a tough season ahead so you have to keep the riders excited,” Campana said of the importance of the early-season camp. “The major fun event is riding your bike in a beautiful place like Mallorca. Is there a better job in the world?
“We’ve added two new riders this year. The plan was to add three riders and so far we’ve added two who have fitted into the team immediately. With Ashleigh we have a rider ranked sixth in the world and have other riders with great ideas and good will to achieve within an Olympic year.
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“In an Olympic year, the spring is always very difficult and there’s always so much tension and stress within teams so you never know what results you’ll get out but for sure we have the quality to win one of the WorldTour races and to be on the podium in the spring time. But it’s more important for us to see the young group in the team developing so for them it will be a hard test to survive and keep their heads above water in this spring campaign. That will be the most exciting part as this is a long term project.
The team brought in Cervelo as a co-title sponsor along side Bigla for the start of the 2016 season. They unveiled their new kit, manufactured by Endura, during the team camp on January 28.
“When looking for a clothing manufacturer for this year, we were looking for a partner who reflects our ideas and vision in developing women’s cycling within the new World Tour,” Campana said.
“Thanks to Cervélo, we found Endura who from the first moment were so excited to be part of the project. It’s incredible how much support they give us and the performance level they have of making the right cuts, finding the right chamois for each rider to connect them to the contact points of the bicycle.
“Thanks to Jim (McFarlane) and his crew we get incredible support. With regard to the TT kit, we’ve been looking closely into aero suits and last year when we went to Scotland for testing, we found the level incredibly high within Endura for their endurance and aero gear. We did our first rides in Mallorca and it’s incredible how the kit stands out on the road. Of course we are bias but it really is beautiful.”
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
