Orica-Scott signs Jolien D'hoore

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Orica-Scott has announced the signing of sprinter Jolien D'hoore from Wiggle-High5 for the 2018 season. D'hoore has won more than any other rider this season and claimed victory at the final round of the Women's WorldTour, the Madrid Challenge.

The confirmation that D'hoore would be joining the squad comes hot on the heels of a two-year extension with new time trial world champion Annemiek van Vleuten. The team has also extended with Amanda Spratt.

"The team has a good mix of experienced riders and youngsters. I know some of the riders, and they really impressed me this year," D'hoore said in a press release. "I'm looking forward to working together with them and to winning as many races as we can."

D'hoore has spent the last three seasons racing with the Wiggle-High5 team, following stints with Lotto Soudal and Topsport Vlaanderen. Her primary focus was the track at the Olympic Games last year, where she won bronze in the Omnium, but she has switched back to the road full-time this season.

She took two wins in her native Belgium in the spring before claiming overall victory at the Tour of Chongming Island, the first stage race of the year on the Women's WorldTour calendar. Further wins have also come at the Women's Tour and the Giro Rosa. D'hoore has enjoyed a flurry of success in the build-up to the World Championships with four wins in the space of a month, including the Madrid Challenge, although she has said that she does not consider herself a big favourite for the competition.

In the past, D'hoore won the Ronde van Drenthe and has been on the podium at the Tour of Flanders.

"I'm more a Classics rider or a sprinter so I will be focusing myself on the spring Classics and the sprinters' and stage races. We have a strong line-up for the Classics, so I'm really eager to show what we've got in the races in my home country," explained D'hoore.

Sport director Gene Bates said that the team has been interested in D'hoore for some time and believes that she will easily slot into the team's line-up.

"We are very pleased to have secured Jolien D'hoore for the 2018 season," Bates said. "We have been looking at her now for a while, and it is great there was an opportunity to work together.

"Jolien has won some of the world's biggest bike races, and we hope to provide an environment that will see her continue to do this. Her strengths obviously lie in sprinting, but I think she can also be very versatile moving forward – we are very excited about her ability to develop further with us. I think Jolien will fit very well in with our team, which is something we really try to evaluate before signing new riders. Our team culture is always at the forefront of our selection processes."