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Two-time US nationwide champion Ruth Edwards, higher identified by her maiden identify Ruth Winder, is about to make a return to the WorldTour peloton in 2024, signing a contract with American squad Human Powered Health.
The 30-year-old formally stopped European racing on the finish of 2021, and has been racing gravel within the US for 2 seasons. She not too long ago confirmed her intention to return to highway racing in an interview with Velo, and this week it was confirmed that her return might be in Human Powered Well being colors.
“That is an thrilling new journey for me,” Edwards mentioned about her new begin within the skilled peloton.
“I don’t suppose I had a plan essentially. I used to be simply actually lacking it and it has been enjoyable to look at girls’s biking develop and for me particularly, I believed I’d simply slightly reside with none regrets.”
Learn extra: Pro cycling transfers – every move for the 2024 season
Beginning her professional profession in 2014, Edwards rode for UnitedHealthcare, Workforce Sunweb, and most not too long ago Trek-Segafredo between 2019 and 2021.
Earlier than stopping highway racing in 2021 – one thing she now refers to as a “sabbatical” slightly than a retirement – she racked up a powerful record of outcomes, together with successful Brabantse Pijl forward of Demi Vollering in her last season, plus stage wins on the Giro d’Italia Donne and Tour Down Beneath.
Throughout her two years away, Edwards has been racing gravel within the Life Time Grand Prix collection and having fun with life in Colorado, and hopes to return to the peloton with a refreshed view on highway racing.
“Hopefully I can use what I’ve discovered about myself to be a greater athlete,” she mentioned. “Prior to now, the unending cycle of racing meant that I simply wanted to be house after which I realised how a lot I liked racing my bike. I felt that a number of my id was tied to it, and I didn’t know what would occur if I finished racing my bike. Now, with Human Powered Well being I can return and really feel safe and that that is one thing I like to do.
“It implies that once I cease once more, my life will at all times be there, and I don’t must be scared to go away and I believe that’s actually highly effective to be right here 100%.”
Giorgia Bronzini arrives as sports activities director
In addition to Edwards, who is predicted to be the primary in a handful of recent rider signings for Human Powered Well being, the crew have additionally recruited former professional and skilled director Giorgia Bronzini.
After retiring on the finish of 2018, former world champion Bronzini has labored as a director for Liv Racing TeqFind for the final two seasons, however isn’t a part of the crew’s merger with Jayco-AlUla. As an alternative, she is going to take up a job at Human Powered Well being for 2024, her sixth 12 months as a sports activities director.
“It is a new problem for me and I’m very excited to affix Human Powered Well being Biking as I see a number of potential,” Bronzini mentioned. “I stay up for assembly the riders, understanding their tactical expertise, and being a superb information for them.
“Subsequent season might be a 12 months to put the groundwork and develop. Past that, something is feasible. I’m right here to assist develop a successful tradition and make investments power into one thing that we imagine.”
The arrivals of Edwards and Bronzini are a part of a wider challenge of enlargement on the Human Powered Well being girls’s crew, who will now be their sole squad with the boys’s arm folding on the finish of 2023.
Learn extra: Human Powered Health men’s team set to fold
Based in 2012, the crew began as a primarily US-based squad, however stepped as much as the WorldTour in 2022. They’ve been smaller gamers in a giant subject, floating across the decrease finish of the WorldTour rankings, however are planning to “increase in scope, dimension, and functionality” forward of the following spherical of promotions and relegations.
“Transferring ahead, we intention to advance our Girls’s WorldTeam to face among the many perfect on this planet,” crew managing accomplice Charles Aaron mentioned, while common supervisor Ro de Jonckere pointed to the Tour de France Femmes as a key second within the enlargement of girls’s biking.
“The expansion of races, media protection, and rider salaries for ladies on this sport was lengthy overdue, and we see an ideal basis to construct upon from right here,” De Jonckere mentioned.
How particularly Human Powered Well being plan to understand this dedication to advancing their girls’s crew isn’t but clear, however signing Edwards, Bronzini and extra new arrivals, plus anticipated new partnerships, look like the premise.
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