Challenging day at the Tour of Flanders

Lauren Stephens is the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB veteran. The former math teacher turned professional cyclist with the team in 2013, and has raced with the team for all but one season of her career.

Name a type of riding and odds are that Lauren has raced it — and at an elite level. She wrapped up the 2022 season by racing the marathon mountain bike world championships in Denmark, the road world championships in Australia, and the inaugural gravel world championships in Italy. The 2021 road US national champion, Lauren placed third in both the road and time trial at the US national championships the following year.

When she was in high school, Lauren used to spend her summers riding her mountain bike 18-20 miles on the road, a distance she thought was crazy at the time. She never imagined that riding would become her career (or that 20 miles would seem like a short ride!).

Lauren is an all-rounder who can climb, chase down breakaways, and time trial. She loves to get off road and is an avid gravel rider. She has twice won the 100 mile distance at Unbound Gravel.

As much as she loves to explore the world, she calls her home roads in Texas her favorite place to ride. She and her husband have made it an annual tradition to bikepack to their family’s house for Thanksgiving, always picking a new route that covers a few hundred miles.

Lauren says that her results come from steadily chipping away at her goals each season and from a high level of motivation combined with a healthy dose of stubbornness.

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.

Clara Honsinger’s first memory of cycling dates back to when she was a child at a local bike-swap with her mother. “I remember jumping on the seat and just pedaling off without any hesitation. I was immediately hooked on bikes!” Clara says.

In the years that followed, Clara began exploring the trails of her native Ashland, Oregon on two wheels. She found racing – muddy, gritty, racing – when a high school teacher introduced her to cyclocross. In December of 2022, Clara won her third consecutive US cyclocross national championship, earning her the privilege of wearing the stars and stripes cyclocross jersey for another year.

In the 2022-2023 cyclocross season, Clara got off to a thrilling start by winning her first race of the season. She made a clean sweep of the back-to-back races in Nommay and has more often than not earned a top ten finish.

Given Clara’s love of racing in harsh conditions, it’s no surprise that on the road she adores the spring classics. At the 2022 Tour of Flanders, she was the last rider standing from the break after spending over 100 kilometers at the front of the race.

Clara likes working on bikes almost as much as she likes riding them. She has worked as a mechanic in a bike store in Oregon and loves talking shop with the mechanics that take care of her bikes.

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.