Boels Dolmans riders reveal some New Year's resolutions - Video
Riders from the world's best women's team engaged in the time-honoured tradition of making a few News Year's resolutions, going so far as to immortalize their promises on video and posting them to the Boels Dolmans Facebook page.
"We jumped on the New Year's Resolution bandwagon with this one," the team wrote in a message accompanying the video. "We asked all 11 riders to share their (non-cycling!) goals for the upcoming year. Tell us what you hope to learn, do, not do, improve and accomplish in 2017 in the comments. Happy New Year, everyone!!"
Riders' goals for the upcoming year vary from flossing every night to learning Spanish and being better at responding to emails. Watch the video below to see what the women of Boels Dolmans hope to achieve in 2017.
Six Kazakh riders for Astana in 2017
The Astana Women's Team will feature six riders from the UCI squad's home country of Kazakhstan, including three returning riders and three new recruits.
Returning Kazakh riders include the most experienced rider, 27-year-old Natalya Saifutdinova, who won the national championship road race and participated at last two world championships, along with Makhabbt Umutzhanova and Tatyana Geneleva. The three new additions to the team are Rinata Akhmetcha, Amiliya Iskakova and Zhanerke Sanakbayeva, all young riders with a background in both road and track cycling.
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Iskakova was Omnium national champion of Kazakhstan in 2015. Both Akhmetcha and Sanakbayeva will face their first year in the élite category. In 2017, the first key events for Kazakh riders are the Asian Cycling Championship on track and road, scheduled respectively from February 6-10 in India and from February 25 to March 2 in Bahrain.
Astana Women's Team 2017: Rinata Akhmetcha (Kaz), Sofia Beggin (Ita), Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita), Arianna Fidanza (Ita), Tatyana Geneleva (Kaz), Amiliya Iskakova (Kaz), Lisa Morzenti (Ita), Olena Pavlukhina (Aze), Carolina Rodríguez (Mex), Natalya Saifutdinova (Kaz), Zhanerke Sanakbayeva (Kaz), Arlenis Sierra (Cub), Agnieszka Skalniak (Poland), Makhabbat Umutzhanova (Kaz), Lara Vieceli (Ita)
Bizkaia-Durango adds two African riders for 2017
The Bizkaia-Durango UCI Women’s Team has added two African riders to its roster, with Vera Adrian and Carla Oberholzer joining the Spanish-registered team for 2017.
Adrian is the current Namibian and African champion, both in the time trial and in the road race. She won the titles in February, and in August she competed at the Rio Olympic road race.
"I am very happy to be able to join the Bizkaia-Durango UCI Women’s Team next year for a few high quality races," Adrian said. "Coming from Namibia it is not easy to get race experience in Europe, although it is crucial if you want to do well at the big races all around the world. For that I am so grateful to get the chance to improve in world class races."
Oberholzer was one of the most aggressive riders in the UCI races that took place in South Africa last November. She ended up third in the second race of the KZN Summer Series and fourth at the 94.7 Cycle Challenge (1.1 UCI). She also competed in the World Championships road race in Qatar.
"I’m really excited to race with the Bizkaia-Durango UCI Women’s Team in 2017," Oberholzer said. "It’s a great privilege and wonderful opportunity to be able to test myself against some of the best female cyclists in the world. I'm already looking forward to making a positive contribution to the team and hopefully enable them to obtain some good results."
