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Lauren Stephens has had combined fortunes this yr however they made a flip for the higher in latest weeks, with the American signing a brand new contract with the US-based Continental crew Cynisca and successful the celebs and stripes jersey in gravel racing.
Stephens’ long-time road team met its end after Silicon Valley Financial institution failed, TIBCO ended its sponsorship and EF Training moved to the brand new ladies’s crew owned by the identical mum or dad firm as the lads’s WorldTour crew. Stephens wasn’t among the many riders snatched up regardless of her nonetheless being on the prime of her sport on the age of 36, leaving her trying to find a crew in August. It was poor timing for a rider with ambitions of constructing the USA’s crew for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The silver lining till now has been her foray into gravel racing. She gained the ‘Gravel Worlds’ (unofficial) and the inaugural USA Cycling Gravel National Championships in fast succession and, because of her victory within the latter, pocketed a cool $12,000 and a full experience to the UCI Gravel World Championships, which happen on Saturday in Veneto, Italy.
“That was an enormous motivation after they introduced that,” Stephens tells Cyclingnews of the federation’s help for Worlds. Final yr, she paid her personal method and she or he and her associate supplied mechanical help for one another. This yr, she’ll have soigneurs, mechanics, and journey prices coated.
“I had my husband there with me final yr, however then he was racing the subsequent day. So he was having to sacrifice – he was there serving to Emily Newsom and me, caring for us, then in a single day we needed to change locations. We’ll nonetheless each be there and be there serving to one another, however we’ll have extra individuals round so I am not totally having to consider all the pieces.”
The help takes care of loads of logistical complications, releasing riders as much as give attention to the race. “With the gravel, I do not know which tires I will run if I will want extra sealant or one thing else in case one thing goes fallacious – it is loads of stuff to pack. Figuring out that you’ve a crew of help there’s very nice. They usually’ve truly opened up the help to all of the riders on the crew, and that is nice.”
The money got here at a welcome time as Stephens fields calls making an attempt to ink a contract for the 2024 street season. Girls not often get a five-figure prize and it is even rarer at a nationwide championship.
“We do not even have prize cash at street nationwide championships! Pre-COVID we had like a small quantity of prize cash for nationals, however we have not had any since. So I’m wondering if they will unfold this out among the many different disciplines.”
The Gravel World Championship course was modified on the final minute with the UCI changing the unique organisers who shifted the route additional north so as to add extra climbing after final yr’s road-friendly course gained by Pauline Ferrand Prévot and Gianni Vermeersch.
“I received actually excited after they modified the course and I noticed that it was going extra North. Even earlier than they launched the GPX, I’ve raced in that space on the Giro so I knew in the event that they have been going north there’s undoubtedly extra probabilities of it getting hillier. Even final yr, you can see the hills within the distance from the place we have been. Having the hills extra in the direction of the tip, I feel it may come right down to loads of teamwork. Having a crew in these flats is essential. After which yeah, as soon as we begin stepping into the funkier stuff, it’s going to get be like a basic model race, I’d assume.”
Stephens simply hopes to have a greater time this yr than when she got here into the 2022 inaugural version after being sick within the lead-up.
“I ended up in the principle breakaway, however at 30k to go I ended up in a full physique cramp. The race wasn’t loopy lengthy – there wasn’t actually any reply to why that might have occurred to me besides that I might been sick and my physique simply wasn’t prepared. In order that was fairly disappointing. I’ve by no means been in a breakaway scenario the place I could not pull by way of. They have been all yelling at me and I am like, ‘I am not faking I promise’. Lastly, we went round a steep switchback part I cramped. I ended up simply nursing myself in and I feel I completed in a prime 20.”
When Cyclingnews spoke with Stephens, she had been working nonstop to discover a new crew after being “a bit misplaced” following the information that her present squad would finish after a decade of racing with them.
“I am unable to consider I have been on the identical crew just about my entire profession as knowledgeable rider. I undoubtedly went by way of feeling a bit misplaced as a result of it has been my residence for the final 10 years.
“There are some choices on the market however I am making an attempt to determine what’s the most suitable choice for me – if I stick to the street and nonetheless do gravel with street being the precedence or if I am going full gravel, privateer. These are the 2 foremost choices.”
Possibility one it’s with the contract at Cynisca, and her hope for the Olympics comes after some strong outcomes this season. They embody the silver medal on the USA Biking Nationwide Championships simply 9 seconds behind Chloé Dygert within the 23.2km time trial, and fourth within the Chrono de Gatineau simply 5 days after the 130-mile Gravel Worlds.
“That is the principle purpose I am wanting to stay with the street – after ending second within the TT at Nationals this yr. I assume that confirmed me I’ve the chance to go to the Olympics and a street crew goes to have the ability to present that help in getting ready for the time trial. And the time trial could be my method into the Olympics, after which I’d get to do the street race if I used to be chosen for the TT.”
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