Krista Doebel-Hickok returns to Human Powered Health in 2024 after two years at EF Education-TIBCO-SVB. The move is another sign that the US-based squad continues to build its roster and continue on the Women’s WorldTour level.
The California native completed two seasons at the top tier with EF Education, but was left looking for a contract when the team announced it would fold at the end of racing this season. It should be a smooth transition, as she had big results as a GC leader for the HPH programme from 2019 through 2021, then called Rally Cycling.
“I had so many great results on the team thanks to such incredible teamwork. My win at Redlands, the Oak Glen stage, is my fondest memory of racing then. A summit finish in my home state, being completely and utterly empty, collapsing having maybe gone deeper than I’d ever gone before,” she recalled.
Once on the WorldTour level in 2022, Doebel-Hickok won the overall and mountains classification at the Tour of the Pyrénées, was fourth on GC of the Vuelta a Burgos and completed the Giro d’Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes. In the US, she won two stages at the Tour of the Gila, which helped her finish second overall and claim the mountains classification.
She began last year’s campaign with fifth overall at the Santos Tour Down Under, then had consistent results at Tour Cyclist Féminin International de l’Ardèche with fifth place on the stage to Mont Lozère and 12th on GC.
Next season will be Doebel-Hickok’s 11th as a pro cyclist, which was not the career path on her radar when she completed her studies and time with the track and field team in cross-country at Vanderbilt University. By 2015, she was racing bikes in Europe and had stage victories at the Tour de Feminin and Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche.
“When I joined Rally Cycling in 2019, I was coming off one of my most trying seasons ever, but 2019 was, arguably, a breakout season for me,” recounted the 34-year-old about the US team for which she raced for three years, Cylance Pro Cycling, discontinuing its licence.
“With this year presenting similar challenges to 2018, It’s motivating to know Human Powered Health believes in me and has what it takes to help me rebound,” she said.
“I want to become an integral part of a team that has an impact far beyond itself. I want us to inspire people to change for the better, and I believe we can share the struggles and joy that come with that process at Human Powered Health.”
Doebel-Hickok will bring not only climbing skills to HPH, but also critical experience for team tactics and GC targets in stage racing.
“There are not many pure climbers in the bunch, and she is one of them. She will be valuable in the mountains, helping Ruth [Edwards] and Barbara [Malcotti], or going for her own results,” noted performance manager Kenny Latomme.
Human Powered Health women’s team recently signed former World Champion Giorgia Bronzini as a new directeur sportif. They renewed the contract for French Champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot and have added former US national champion Ruth Edwards, who had retired two seasons ago and has returned from a successful gravel career to restart on the road.
