The US-based DNA Pro Cycling Team has extended the current contracts of all riders from 2020 to next year, citing the tough challenges of the current season when the vast majority of events for the Women’s Continental programme ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. The 12-rider roster will see only two changes in 2021, with Michaela Drummond departing for new opportunities in Europe, and Erica Clevenger joining from Team TIBCO-SVB.
“Shortly following a productive team camp in the spring, we were en route to the first race of the 2020 season and learned of the first cancellation upon arriving in the race city, and eventually all road events on our calendar would be cancelled. We are extremely grateful to our sponsors who have continued to support the team and share our priority to protect the health and security of our riders,” said Catherine Fegan-Kim, the team’s co-owner and director.
The only new signing for the upcoming season is Clevenger. The Colorado rider raced with the programme in 2017, when it was known as Visit Dallas | DNA Pro Cycling. Clevenger is a past collegiate national road race champion and was the best young rider recipient of the 2017 USA CRITS season. She is currently the elected collegiate representative on the USA Cycling board of directors, and will take the roster spot vacated by Drummond, who raced for the team for four years.
Returning riders for 2021 include Katie Clouse, Margot Clyne, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Heather Fischer, Sarah Kaufmann, Mia Kilburg, Kimberly Lucie, Hanna Muegge, Liza Rachetto, Nicole Shields and Brenna Wrye-Simpson.
Clouse, who will be racing her fifth year with the programme, won 2019 US collegiate titles in the mountain bike and under-23 cyclo-cross events. Kilburg will continue her return to professional cycling after her medal-winning performance in long-track speed skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Based in British Columbia, Coles-Lyster is an all-rounder who last podiumed at the 2019 Tour of the Gila, behind Chloé Dygert on stage 4.
“As with the start of this year, we are very excited to bring this strong roster to UCI, PRT, and USA CRITS racing,” said co-owner Lee Whaley. “The unfortunate circumstances of the pandemic this year have only strengthened our drive to compete in the coming year.”
DNA Pro Cycling returned to the UCI Continental level in 2020, after a two-year absence at that level. It will compete as a UCI team in 2021, targeting races on the USA Cycling Pro Road Tour and the USA CRITS series.
