Explore Podcast: Tour de France Femmes – A race to be proud of

Alison Jacson returns to the squad for the 2023 season after a three year hiatus, bringing with her a sprinting and classics background. She raced a strong 2022 season, winning the points competition at the Tour of Scandinavia and narrowly missing out on defending her Canadian national champion’s road title. She finished second at Drentse Acht van Westerveld, improving on her fifth place result in 2021. She is a former Canadian time trial national champion and raced in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Born in Alberta, Canada, Alison grew up wanting to work on her family’s farm. Noticing that Alison still had plenty of energy to spare after completing her chores, her parents enrolled her in just about every sport and type of dance class offered in their small town. It was only a matter of time until Alison discovered cycling as a 19-year-old. While racing in western Canada, her steady results netted her first professional contract in 2015 which was her stepping stone to European racing.

Today she divides her time between her hometown of Vermilion, Aberta, her Canadian training grounds of Abbotsford, BC, and her race base in Girona, Spain. Abbotsford is where she got her start as a cyclist and to this day she loves to catch up with friends while exploring the hills on gravel and single track trails. Her favorite ride from Girona is to climb up the backside of scenic El Far through the medieval village of Rupit.

She's not only an amazing rider, but even better leader and friend on the team. On April 8, 2023, she won Paris-Roubaix Femmes in an amazing display of grit and racing instinct. This summer she claimed her second Canadian road race national championship so keep an eye out for her maple leaf jersey in the peloton.

You can also find Alison on social media where you’ll find her dancing in lycra and often getting her teammates in on the action.

Magdeleine Vallieres Mill hails from Sherbrooke, Québec. At nine-years-old, she and her dad took a 1,000 kilometer bike packing trip over nine days. After that, Magdeleine was hooked. A sports program at her high school introduced her to bike racing. She loved every discipline, racing road, cyclocross, and mountain bike as a junior before deciding to focus on road racing.

She applied for the UCI World Cycling Center (WCC) program as she transitioned out of the junior ranks and was offered one of eight spots on the WWC squad for 2020. The Continental team serves as a launching pad into the professional ranks for its scholarship riders, who typically hail from across the globe. Magdeleine’s first season with the WCC was interrupted by Covid but she took advantage of every opportunity and ultimately earned a spot on EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

Magdeleine is approaching her second season with the team full of energy and excitement. In her rookie season, she didn’t know what to expect but her eagerness to seize every opportunity ultimately led to plenty of race days for the 21-year-old. She raced the classics, one-day races, and stage races, all while providing essential support to her teammates. Now in her second year as a pro, Magdeleine continues to be an essential member of the team. You will often find her at the sharp end of the peloton, pulling for her teammates.

Her diverse cycling background has helped her develop a love for the chaotic classics, the endurance required in stage racing, and has taught her unrivaled track standing skills.

Sara Poidevin grew up immersed in athletics. The Canadian hails from Canmore, Alberta, a high caliber athlete mecca. Surrounded by cross country skiers and mountain bikers, Sara rode recreationally with her family for a few years before growing more interested in mountain bike racing during high school.

Sara started training on a road bike in the winter, in an effort to keep up her fitness for mountain biking, and quickly discovered that she was better on the road than in the dirt. She raced on the road with her provincial team and then a local club in Calgary, balancing cycling with scholastics as she pursued her exercise and health physiology degree.

A professional racer since 2016, last season was a year of firsts for Sara – first time changing teams, first year living abroad, first season on a WorldTour team. In 2022, she raced more days than in any other season which provided her with ample opportunities to learn and grow.

This season, Sara’s racing played a vital role in securing the team’s second consecutive GC win at the Joe Martin Stage Race. Just a few weeks later, Sara put in a massive ride at the Canadian road race national championships where she spent the bulk of the 124 kilometer course in a solo breakaway, setting the stage for teammate Alison Jackson to claim the win.

Kathrin Hammes began her professional career with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, racing for the American squad from 2015-2017. After four seasons with various teams, she calls her second go-round with the team a return to her roots.

She started riding at age 17 thanks to a family friend. Riding soon led to racing and racing led to a stage win at Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche while competing on a composite team. This win, which happened shortly after Kathrin submitted her master’s degree thesis in sociology, was the catalyst for signing with the team.

On the bike, Kathrin is a hard working domestique who never hesitates to support and protect her teammates. She loves a long climb and frequently rides up Schauinsland, a mountain in the Black Forest.

The German favors her home roads in and around Freiburg for training, climbing and racing. While many of her teammates prefer the warmer climates of Spain and the south of France as their in-season residence, Kathrin remains in Germany throughout the year. Her favorite races are the Ardennes Classics and tough stage races like the Giro d’Italia Donne, a race she has started five times.

In 2023, Kathrin has continued to be not only a loyal rider, shepherding her teammates through the peloton, she also earned her best result in the German road race national championships when she claimed the silver medal.

Letizia Borghesi has been racing bikes for half her life. The 24-year-old pinned on her first number when she was 12. After hearing stories from her dad about his wins as a U23 racer, she thought to herself, “I could do that,” and she took up cycling. While injuries prevented her dad from turning professional, Letizia has achieved what he was unable to. Her family is very supportive of her athletic career and she says that growing up in an active household helped her to develop a strong sports mentality. You can often find Letizia’s parents at the races, having driven from their home in northern Italy to support their daughter.

In 2022, her first season with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, Letizia earned a pair of top ten finishes in the spring classics and gained plenty of experience racing at the WorldTour level. This season, her palmarès includes a string of top ten finishes. She raced the Giro d’Italia Donne this year where she was an important teammate in supporting Veronica to the team’s best GC result at a WorldTour stage race. Letizia’s stage win at the 2019 Giro her biggest result to date. It came down to a head-to-head sprint after spending the day in the breakaway and Letizia managed to pull off the win just on the finish line.

Growing up in the mountains of northern Italy, Letizia is happiest when she is outside. She adores her home region of Trentino and you can often find her hiking to nearby lakes when she’s not training on the road. She earned the silver medal in the 2022 Italian gravel national championships, her first ever gravel race. In the off season, Letizia enjoys competing in the local cyclocross races. Given her experience in cyclocross, it’s not a surprise that her favorite races are the cobbled classics because she loves the steep climbs and is used to the harsh weather conditions.

Letizia completed her bachelor’s degree in sports science and she is currently studying for her master’s degree in biology/nutrition.