Culture

What a year it’s been

A look back at our first season in the WorldTour

October 21, 2022

In 2022, EF Education-TIBCO-SVB brought together 14 riders from six countries. The team’s goals may have seemed humble — build camaraderie and cohesion among the riders and staff, have some promising results — but they were undeniably challenging given that this would be the team’s first season in the WorldTour.

Now that it’s late October and the race bikes have been washed and put away for the off season, let’s take stock of the year. Thirteen wins. Six additional podiums. Another eight top 10s. The results sheet certainly shows that 2022 was a strong season for the squad. The depth of the relationships you’ll find between the riders off the bike is further proof of the camaraderie and respect that has grown within the organization.

“When I started the season with the team at camp, I had no idea what the season would be like,” Magdeleine Vallieres Mill says of her first professional season. “I didn’t expect the season to be like this. The team grew to be so strong by the end of the season, with Veronica finishing fifth at the Tour de Romandie, a WorldTour race. I could tell at the February camp that the riders were going to be really, really strong but I had no idea that we’d reach this level so soon.”

Veronica Ewers had a breakout season in which she took a stage win at Elsy Jacobs and at the Navarra Women’s Elite Classic and finished ninth overall at the revived Tour de France Femmes. The American agrees that the team’s growth exceeded her expectations, which in turn gave her the strength and motivation to surpass her own expectations for herself.

“We improved leaps and bounds from the beginning of this year. I was lucky to do the last race of the season with the team at the Tour de Romandie and most of the stages we were all racing next to each other and with each other throughout the race. That was a night and day difference from the beginning of the season when we all were kind of scattered in the bunch. There are moments when you’re absolutely suffering and you think I don't think I can continue but then you think, ‘Well, I’m not going to let my team down, I’m not going to give up for a teammate.’ You give absolutely everything you possibly can. Not only for yourself but also for your teammates. I really had no idea that I would have the results that I ended up having at the end of the year. I definitely could not have done that without my teammates.”

There were, inevitably, hiccups along the way. Covid hit the team hard, forcing sports directors to redesign race rosters at the last minute. Crashes and injuries interrupted momentum. And of course, some days just didn’t go our way. But coping with adversity is an opportunity for growth.

“Bringing a new group together always comes with challenges, and I think overcoming those will strengthen our team for future seasons,” says Krista Doebel-Hickok, who is no stranger to adversity herself. Though her season ended prematurely with a broken collarbone after a crash at the Vuelta a España, the doctors are pleased with her surgery and subsequent recovery, and Krista has been cleared to resume her normal activities.

With the 2023 team camp just a few weeks away, our riders are busy enjoying the off season, but are already thinking about next year.

As Krista said simply, “I am driven and ready to take on the 2023 season.”

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Magdeleine Vallieres

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.

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Veronica Ewers

Veronica’s focus and dedication made the 2022 season one full of podiums. In Luxembourg, she won the final stage of the Festival Elsy Jacobs which earned her second place on the general classification. She took the overall win at the Navarra Women’s Elite Classics as well as second place at both Emakumeen Nafarroako Women’s Elite Classic and Durango-Durante Emakumeen Saria. At the Tour de France Femmes, Veronica rode aggressively and with heart, finishing among the top ten on two stages which landed her in ninth place on general classification. Veronica had the honor of representing her country at the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. She concluded the season with a pair of second place podiums in the Italian one-day races and a fifth place GC finish at the Tour de Romandie.

Her list of race results is particularly impressive given that 2022 was her first season as a full-time professional cyclist.

Veronica burst onto the professional racing scene at the 2021 US National Road Championships, coming in third place behind Lauren Stephens and Coryn Labecki. The result, and the way she earned it, turned heads, ultimately landing Veronica a guest ride with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB at Joe Martin Stage Race. Veronica backed up her nationals bronze with second place at Joe Martin, her first national level race.

Because the 28-year-old had limited experience in the peloton before she turned pro, Veronica is proud of the growth she has displayed as she has learned to navigate the bunch. This improved skill has led to greater confidence, which in turn has helped her become a more proficient racer.

Though she is new to cycling, Veronica is not new to competitive sports. She played Division III soccer at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon while double majoring in Spanish and anthropology. Following graduation, she turned to running, and a running friend encouraged her to attend a local club ride meet-up. This led to Veronica joining Fount Cycling Guild where she worked closely with Jennifer Wheeler, who rode for TIBCO in 2011-2012. Wheeler recognized Veronica’s budding talent immediately and connected the up and coming rider with Linda Jackson, founder of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

Veronica raced the Giro d’Italia Donne for the first time this season and her aggressive approach animated the race. She had a trio of top-ten results and on the final stage, she attacked during an intermediate sprint to earn a single bonus second which placed her in fourth place on the final general classification, her best result to date in a WorldTour GC.

For now, Veronica sees herself as an all-rounder. She is punchy and loves the hills, including the longer mountain climbs. She spent a month of the off season in Medellín, Colombia where she explored the local climbs and got to practice her Spanish.

Veronica is as surprised as anyone at the way her cycling journey has unfolded to date, but is excited to continue to develop and see just how far she can go in the sport.

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Krista Doebel-Hickok

For Krista Doebel-Hickok, 2023 marks a decade of being a professional cyclist. She got her introduction to European racing when she joined the team for the 2014 and 2015 seasons and notched her first stage wins at Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche and Tour de Feminin.

Krista returned to EF Education-TIBCO-SVB in 2022 and raced a brilliant season. She placed eighth in Flèche Wallonne before heading to the US to race the Tour of the Gila. At Gila, she won two of the five stages, including the opening stage and the individual time trial. She won the mountains classification and was second overall. She had two more top ten finishes at Emakumeen Nafarroako and the Vuelta a Burgos. After racing both the Giro Donne and the Tour de France Femmes, Krista had great form at the Tour Fèminin International des Pyrénées. She and her teammates won the opening team time trial and Krista went on to win the next two stages in commanding style, taking the general classification as well as the points and mountain jerseys.

Before she discovered her love of riding, the California native was a proficient runner. As a full-scholarship cross-country and track & field athlete and Summa Cum Laude student at Vanderbilt University, she broke the 10,000 meter school record while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in Economics.

Upon graduation in December 2011, Krista moved back to Southern California, and bought a bike to find some joy in exercise and competition once again. She hasn’t looked back.

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