Racing

Kicking off 2023 Down Under

Our squad is ready for our second year in the WorldTour

January 13, 2023

It’s been a little over three months since our last road race.

Since then, we’ve rested, trained, planned and prepared for the 2023 season. And now that we are in Australia, we couldn’t be more excited to get things underway at the Tour Down Under.

The WorldTour race will unfold over three stages in and around the city of Adelaide beginning on January 15. Stage one is 110 kilometers. The route heads south and reaches its conclusion along the sandy beaches of Snapper Point. Given its flat terrain, the peloton probably won’t take in the sea views until after the sprint finish. The next day heads to the rolling hills just east of Adelaide. At just 90 kilometers, it’s the shortest stage and the run in to the finish is pan flat. Stage three is another lumpy course and the organizers have saved the Corkscrew for the race’s finale. The climb is only 2.3 kilometers but the average gradient is over 9% and it maxes out at a leg breaking 24.4%. After cresting the Corkscrew, it’s a 7.5 kilometer descent all the way to the finish line where the Tour Down Under will present the race leader’s ochre jersey one final time.

For us, this race is an opportunity to slowly wind up the season and for one of our new signees, Georgia Williams, to sink her teeth into racing with the squad. She will be joined by Krista Doebel-Hickok, Abi Smith, and Lauren Stephens.

"I remember racing really aggressively and hard and that’s what I want to do here now."

Krista Doebel-Hickok

Sports director Daniel Holm Fodder’s goal is for our roster to start laying the foundation for a strong 2023. “It's super early and for our riders it will be the first race of the season. Our focus is on following our strategy day by day and keeping our standards high for how we want to race as a team. Maybe we will already be good enough for a result, but nobody knows. The most important thing is that we get the group together for the season.”

Krista has raced Tour Down Under three times before and loves starting off the season in Adelaide.

“I’ve really had a lot of fun here and good experiences here,” she says. “It’s always a good way to kick off the season because the heat is a lot easier for me to prepare for than a cold, spring classic. There was a year when I was one second off the GC podium so I remember racing really aggressively and hard and that’s what I want to do here now, not necessarily in terms of results but just racing aggressively and having a lot of fun out there. I think it’s a pretty open race since it’s just three days and relatively short stages. There’s no really decisive, massive climb so it’s a lot of time to play and roll the dice and see what happens.”

Coming from just across the Tasman Sea, Georgia thinks of Tour Down Under as being in her backyard so making her debut in pink here is special to her.

“It feels really good to be here,” Georgia says. “It’s like a home race for me because it’s so close and we never get to race in New Zealand. It’s always fun to race here and with my new team of course, in our colors so I’m really excited. Our riders already know each other so well so it’s all about learning for me. I’m focused on good communication with my new teammates so that I can help the team as much as possible. I’m looking forward to diving into 2023.”

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How to watch: In Europe, GCN+ will broadcast the race. North Americans can watch on FloBikes.

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Tour Down Under
Jan. 15, 2023 – Jan. 17, 2023
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Georgia Williams

Georgia Williams is a rider who loves the hilly classics, stages races, and time trials. She got her initial start as a track cyclist and after representing New Zealand in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Olympics, she decided to fully dedicate her time to road racing.

She is a versatile rider with a pair of medals from back to back Commonwealth Games, four time trial national titles, two road race national championships, and top ten finishes on both stage and one-day races in nearly every season of her career.

Georgia’s 2023 season got off to a strong start. At Tour Down Under, she earned a pair of top-three finishes on the last two stages which saw her finish third on the overall. Her results helped the team win the best team competition. The following month, she returned to New Zealand where she earned her fifth time trial national championship. Georgia was an integral member of our Giro d’Italia Donne squad where her work helped to place teammate Veronica fourth on the final general classification.

She loves to race aggressively and support her teammates but what keeps her motivated is the simple joy that riding brings her, day in, day out. Georgia takes advantage of the travel opportunities that come along with racing and you’ll often find her exploring new routes and training in the fresh air with her friends. She spends the racing season in Girona, Spain and heads back to New Zealand for the austral summer.

Now entering her 11th season as a pro, Georgia is a seasoned veteran who is eager to share her knowledge and experience with her teammates. With her easy-going attitude, she is a natural mentor.

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Lauren Stephens

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.

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Abi Smith

Abi Smith started cycling as a four-year-old when she would ride her pink bike through the village to collect eggs from her neighbor’s chickens. Today, she is proud to race her second professional season with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB (the fact that she now gets to race a pink bike is the icing on the cake!).

Growing up in Yorkshire, England, her parents encouraged Abi and her older brother to spend lots of time outside and keep active, and signed them up for the Yorkshire Regional Triathlon Series. Abi competed in the series for eight years before concluding that cycling was her strongest discipline. She switched her focus to road racing in 2018 as a 16-year-old, lining up for the National Youth Road Series that year. Her strength and consistency caught the attention of a British Cycling coach, who offered her a spot in the junior academy program the following season. Abi cut her teeth on the road and on the track with the British Cycling Academy. She calls WorldTour racing with the team the biggest opportunity of her life.

The 20-year-old is focused on gaining experience in the peloton and learning from her teammates. The 2022 season offered Abi plenty of new experiences, including spending over 100 kilometers in the breakaway at Scheldeprijs, racing the 10-stage Giro Donne, and competing in the Commonwealth Games.

She lists her diesel engine as her greatest asset, which is useful for chasing down breakaways, late race attacks and time trials.

During down time, Abi often turns to art. You can see some of her work here.

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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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