In one of the most significant transfers of the year, Coryn Labecki joined Jumbo-Visma, after a fruitful five years at Team DSM. Jumbo-Visma are beginning their first season as a Women’s WorldTour team, and second as a professional outfit. Although their debut season, spearheaded by Marianne Vos, proved successful, Labecki’s arrival will further strengthen their squad in a clear signal of their ambition.
To welcome Labecki into the team, Jumbo-Visma released a photograph of her wearing her official team kit for the first time. Alongside Jumbo-Visma’s traditional yellow-and-black design, Labecki’s jersey displays the distinctive star-spangled American flag on her collar and sleeves, marking her as a former national road race champion. Her victory in the elite national championships in 2018 was one of 72 titles in her career, and is one of many achievements that already decorate Labecki’s palmarès.
Armed with a wicked sprint and the ability to survive longer in a race than many other sprinters, Labecki began her career in the USA, initially combining racing with a degree in business marketing at Marian University in Indianapolis. She then successfully transferred this talent to the Women’s WorldTour in Europe.
In 2017, the best year of her career to date, Labecki won the Tour of Flanders, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and RideLondon Classique; the first two victories from reduced bunch sprints, and the third in a pure sprint on The Mall.
She continued to mop up victories in 2018, winning the general classification at the OVO Energy Women’s Tour and two stages of the Thüringen Ladies Tour, as well as the national championships.
Since 2019, though, Labecki’s fortunes have waned somewhat. A concussion sustained in August 2020, repeated cramping in races, and a stomach virus conspired to wreck her 2020 season, already truncated by the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, it marked her first season without a victory for six years.
It seems, however, that this was merely an anomalous year for Labecki as she won the final stage of the Giro d’Italia Donne in 2021. Further flickers of her all-conquering form of 2017 appeared with a second place at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta and a seventh place in the Olympic Games road race in Tokyo.
At Jumbo-Visma, Labecki will aim to build on these results, forming one-half of a formidable combination with Vos, previously one of her fiercest rivals. Together, they will be target the Spring Classics and sprints, with Labecki alternating between a leadership and support role.
