Future talents to hone in on specific targets during the next two seasons
Blanka Vas of Hungary and Anna Shackley of United Kingdom (SD Worx)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Blanka Vas and Anna Shackley have extended their contracts at Team SD Worx through 2024. They are two of the biggest talents in women's cycling and they plan to continue to develop and hone in on their specific targets during the next two seasons.
Vas signed with the team as a trainee in August of 2021 and raced her first full season on the Women's WorldTour this year. She has won back-to-back national road and time trial titles along with fourth place at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships and fourth in the cross-country mountain bike event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
A multi-discipline rider, Vas is currently competing in the cyclo-cross season and will transition back to road races and mountain biking in the spring.
"It may not have been immediately obvious to the general public, but Blanka Vas showed once again some strong performances for her age during the last road season," said sports manager Danny Stam.
"In 2021, she achieved unexpectedly great results. This year she continued to develop and rode a full road season for the first time. We have seen that she has become a lot stronger. Especially in the tougher one-day races, she impressed.
"Blanka is a rider who can do anything and wants it all. The future will show what she can best specialise in."
Vas has pointed to the one-day races and hilly Classics as an area of the sport that suits her best, but she hopes to excel in the cobbled classics in future. Next year, Vas will split her time between road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking with an aim to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"I didn't have to think long when I was able to extend my contract. Within the team, I can continue to do the combination of road, cyclo-cross and mountain bike. Thus, next year I will ride a few more mountain bike races with a view to qualifying for the Paris Olympics in 2024," she said.
"This season I rode a fairly full road programme for the first time. I learned a huge amount. Being in the best team in the world with Danny Stam, Anna van der Breggen and Lars Boom as sports directors and having experienced top riders like Chantal Blaak and Demi Vollering next to you is a big advantage. I have not yet decided where my biggest opportunities on the road actually lie. Although I do have a preference for the one-day races. I like the hill classics but hope to get to know the cobbled classics in the future. Apart from the sporting part, I also like the atmosphere of the team. I really feel at home here and I’m happy to continue cycling in this environment in the coming years."
Anna Shackley (SD Worx) at Tour de Romandie (Image credit: Getty Images)
Shackley began her first full season on the Women's WorldTour with SD Worx in 2021, and it was a breakout year where she competed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Although she missed the Giro d'Italia Donne this year due to COVID-19, she was 15th overall at Itzulia Women, 14th at Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, 7th at the Challenge by la Vuelta and 10th at Tour de Romandie.
"This year, she proved her talent. In the final classification of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta and the Tour de Romandie Féminin, she finished in the top ten. She has shown tremendous progress this year, while also suffering setbacks. For instance, she had to miss the Giro d'Italia Donne due to a corona infection. Her autumn was very strong," Stam said.
Shackley said it was a difficult first year in 2021 with SD Worx, being new to the Women's WorldTour, but that she was pleased with her second season racing with the team.
"I made some nice progress in 2022. In the hill classics and in the heavier round work I come into my own best. Certainly, my results in the autumn were good. That gives a lot of motivation going into the winter toward the upcoming season," she said.
"At Team SD Worx I am enjoying myself. I am developing well here. There is also a good team atmosphere between the riders and the staff. I feel at home here."
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
