Specialized-lululemon: Cycling’s Dream Team Gears up for a Historic Season
Specialized-Lululemon | December 29, 2011
Early December in Carlsbad, California. A group of women roll out on road bikes in a tight double pace-line. Sunshine warms the sky, tinny Christmas carols waft from nearby shops and a muscular surfer undresses haphazardly in the shoulder of the road. As the group of cyclists passes, a feisty German toward the front cracks a joke and the peloton erupts in laughter. The surfer laughs, too, sharing the moment and waving back at two tall blonds who have greeted him from the back of the pack. Then they’re gone.
It could be any day in California - a group of women scoping surfers, a group of women pedaling comfortably together, sharing stories and having a laugh. But this isn’t just any group of women – this is cycling’s dream team, one of the most powerful women’s pro teams in the history of the sport. This is Specialized-lululemon – and they’re in California for their first team training camp together. It’s the start, they hope, of a widely-anticipated year of history making and record breaking.
Sitting in the bunch are former and current national champions, world champions, world record holders and Olympic medalists. Women – aged 21 to 39 – who lace the bike with power and dominate on the road and in the velodrome. In 2012, they’ll channel their determination in a bid for some of the most prestigious prizes in the sport including a history-making Team Time Trial World Championship (the event is open to trade teams for the first time ever) and Olympic gold.
World Champions, Olympic Medalists and a Few Class Clowns
Incredibly, 8 (and possibly even 12) of the team's 13 riders have the potential to earn a trip to the 2012 Olympics in London. Among them, Ina Yoko Teutenberg, a veteran of more than 30 years and one of the winningest female cyclists in history, has her sights set on bringing home an Olympic medal, one of the few prizes that she has not yet managed to win in the course of her storied career. With retirement on the horizon, London is her last chance to make good on the dream. Teutenberg is widely admired by teammates and opponents as a master tactician and brutal competitor. She will also make you laugh until you cry, appreciates good beer and often laments the fact that she is not as fit as her dog.
Amber Neben and Clara Hughes will also vie for Olympic glory in 2012. Neben, who once worked at Disneyland selling glow sticks in costume (she prefers professional bike racing, thank you), is a former US National Road Racing Champion and World TT Champion. She's even-keeled and steady: intensely focused, slightly introverted and incomparably kind. At 39, Canadian Clara Hughes is the oldest member of the team and an Olympic medalist several times over (she's the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in Winter and Summer Olympics, including a gold in speed skating). In 2010 she ended a 10-year hiatus from cycling and now takes aim at gold in the individual time-trial in London.
2010 and 2011 US National TT Champion Evelyn (“Evie”) Stevens was working on Wall Street before she discovered – almost by accident – that she had a knack for pedaling a bicycle. In 2009 she sky-rocketed to the top echelon of domestic racing in a matter of months, shocking the cycling world with her raw talent and unbelievable physiology. She has a contagious enthusiasm and the kind of personality that can pull off bold American-flag boxer shorts, which we learned during a 3:15am fire alarm that brought the entire team into the hotel parking lot in pajamas and slippers. Her roommate and fellow American, the bubbly and good-natured Ally Stacher, was unable to convince Stevens that they should “save the bikes” before exiting the hotel room. In addition to being a tough-as-nails self-sacrificing (and bike rescuing) domestique, Stacher also demonstrates prowess in the yoga studio and has a knack for catching fish that are almost as big as she is.
German riders Trixi Worrack, Charlotte (“Lotte”) Becker, and Lisa Brennauer bring experience and big power: Worrack and Becker are former German National road champions and both Becker and Brennauer hold world records on the track. Rookie Katie Colclough (UK) will also look to leverage the power that she has developed as a track racer into big efforts in 2012.
From Australia, young Chloe Hosking is poised to be the world’s next big sprinting talent and has the feisty (and often hilarious) personality to match. A strong comedic writer, she publishes a blog that explores the lighter side of life as a pro bike racer. Fellow Australian Loren Rowney joins the team following a huge GC win at the 2011 Honda Hybrid Women's Tour and will look to learn from the team’s veterans and establish herself on the global stage.
Rounding out the squad, Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands) and Emilia Fahlin (Sweden) are a double shot of towering blond awesomeness, delivering power in doses. Van Dijk is a World Champion on the track and a true hard woman in the Dutch tradition: point her into the wind and rain and watch her wreak havoc. Fahlin is the reigning Swedish National TT Champion and has a host of national titles and major stage wins to her name. Both are pre-qualified for the 2012 London Olympics and aim to bring home hardware.
The Road Ahead: Surging into 2012
Aside from being a virtual powerhouse of raw wattage, Specialized-lululemon has the advantage of experience and the support of sponsors and staff that believe not only in the success of their riders, but also of the imminent importance of supporting and promoting women in sport. With all the key pieces in place, the women who once laughed casually on a sunny California training ride are well-positioned to make a bid for cycling’s top honors in 2012.
First, however, there’s a full calendar of racing that officially starts with the Tour of Qatar, where they plan to defend their 2011 victory (Ellen Van Dijk took the win). From then on, it’s “go time” as they travel the globe taking on the hardest races, best competitors and biggest adventures in the world.