US rider Allison Mrugal makes WorldTour leap at La Vuelta Femenina with Sopela

Allison Mrugal won her first European race in April 2023 after signing with Sopela Women's Team
Allison Mrugal won her first European race in April 2023 after signing with Sopela Women's Team (Image credit: Allison Mrugal)

This time one year ago Allison Mrugal rode the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico with the amateur-level Amy D. Foundation team and was happy with a pair of top 15s across the five-day UCI 2.2 stage race. Now the 27-year-old US rider is part of the Continental-level Sopela Women’s Team and set to make her WorldTour stage race debut in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, May 1-7.

It has been a whirlwind of change across a few months for Mrugal, who has only been racing on the road for two full years. She moved to Europe and signed with a Spanish club team to start 2023, Kiwi Átlantico-Louriña. In early April she moved up to the Sopela squad, based in the Spanish Basque Country, and then won her first European race on the third day of the Lea-Artibai Txallengea, held in Berriatúa. It also the team’s first victory of the year, and they named her to the Vuelta squad.

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).