Dygert's explosive power from a successful career restart bring high expectations to the German team
Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Canyon SRAM Racing waves to the crowd at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège team presentation standing next to team co-leader Elise Chabbey (right)(Image credit: Getty Images)
From the hard-charging Spring Classics to the now-epic Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, a sure bet is to see Kasia Niewiadoma at the front of a select group near the finish line for Canyon-SRAM. She’s developed as the team leader, entering her sixth season with the long-time programme that is beginning its fourth year as a Women's WorldTeam, with consistency and aggressive style, even if the strengths don’t register a landslide of wins, at least not yet.
In fact, Canyon-SRAM won just one race in 2022, Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria in Spain, thanks to Pauliena Rooijakkers. At first glance, it was a huge dip from eight victories just one season ago. Lisa Klein was responsible for late-season success in 2021 with two stages and the overall at the Baloise Ladies Tour, but she moved on to Trek-Segafredo in the new year as part of a departure of five riders.
Canyon-SRAM developed over the season as a complete team even without individual accolades, which proved their metal with strong riding across the mountain stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that vaulted Canyon-SRAM to the teams' classification triumph in 2022.
Performances by Niewiadoma and second-year teammate Elise Chabbey boosted Canyon-SRAM to sixth overall in the UCI overall team standings as well as the Women’s WorldTour ranking in 2022. Niewiadoma led with her consistency in the Spring Classics, a third overall in the Women’s Tour and third on GC and in the mountains classification at the inaugural Tour de France Femmes.
The Polish all-rounder excelled per usual on steep pitches, especially when the road tips upward for a succession of ramps. She ended the 2021 season with a high and a low - a bronze medal in they road race at the UCI Road Worlds followed by a crash and DNF at the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes. So to start 2022, Niewiadoma scored five top 10s on the rolling roads of the Spring Classics, including second at De Brabantse Pijl and then more team points in WorldTour races with fourth at Strade Bianche and fifth at Amstel Gold Race (a race she won in 2019).
After a pair of runner-up finishes on stages at the Women’s Tour, she leaped into third place on GC after the first two days at the Tour de France Femmes and showed off her climbing prowess on stage 3, where she animated the chasing group that caught leaders on the final climb and then ignited the uphill sprint, only to settle for sixth place. Her fight to the finish was set up by earlier attacks by Chabbey and Alena Amialiusik, who also supported her in top-five finishes on the biggest mountain finishes at the end eight-day stage race.
Swiss climber Chabbey continued to rack up the results in her best season with a fifth pro season under her belt. She posted four top 10s in the Spring Classics, including third place at Dwars door Vlaanderen and fourth at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and claimed mountain titles at Itzulia Women and the Women’s Tour, plus a runner-up in the QOM at Giro d’Italia Donne.
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Elise Chabbey of Canyon-Sram Racing celebrates winning the green mountain jersey on the podium ceremony after stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia Donne 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Chabbey and Niewiadoma solidify a one-two punch for Canyon-SRAM for two more years, and they will be joined through 2024 by Chloé Dygert and Neve Bradbury. Dygert brought a stellar resume to the team two seasons ago as the 2019 time trial world champion on the road and seven-time world champion on the track, but now has a list of illnesses and surgeries just as long as her racing register.
The US rider competed on the road just once in 2022, finishing in the pack of a bunch sprint at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in late February. That outing was bookended by surgeries and illnesses that kept her away from more competitions. She’ll be back for more track action this season and has an eye on the Tour de France Femmes with its pivotal 22km time trial on the final day in Pau.
In her second season with the German team, Bradbury earned the best young rider distinction and finished in the top 5 at the Tour of Scandinavia this past season. The 20-year-old Australian also used four top 15 rides at her first Giro d’Italia Donne to finish 10th on GC. She’s a quick learner and eager to put up quality results.
Canyon-SRAM have a great deal of consistency with nine returning riders on the roster of 15 for 2023, as well as two riders from the development team, Canyon-SRAM Generation, Ricarda Bauernfeind and Antonia Niedermaier. New signings include British Champion Alice Towers and Maike van der Duin (both from Le Col-Wahoo), and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (from ATOM Deweloper Posciellux.pl Wrocław). Rounding out the roster is 22-year-old British rider Alex Morrice, who won the 2022 Zwift Academy Road talent identification and training program.
Other storylines to follow in 2023
Chloé Dygert took part in the 2022 Canyon-SRAM team camp but only competed in one road race that season (Image credit: Thomas Maheux)
After riding to a bronze medal as part of the US Olympic team pursuit lineup in August 2021, Chloé Dygert had surgery to remove a mass of scar tissue that resulted from her career-threatening leg injury sustained at the Imola Worlds. Soon after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, she contracted the Epstein-Barr virus, which caused her to miss the rest of the season. A year removed from Olympic Games glory, she opted for more surgeries, one to remove scar tissue and a separate procedure to treat a non-life threatening heart rate condition. Dygert is just 25 years old and plans to mix track and road racing in 2023, making her an exciting rider to watch.
Ricarda Bauernfeind, 22, finished on the podium in all three stages and the overall classification at Vuelta Ciclista Andalucia Ruta del Sol and won stages at Thüringen Ladies Tour, Tour Feminin Internationa des Pyrenees and aTour de l'Ardeche. She also won under-23 German national titles in the time trial and road race, with two U23 bronze medals in the same two disciplines at the World Championships in Australia. She'll be ready to support Niewiadoma and Chabbey in any stage race.
Antonia Niedermaier, 19, earned the bronze medal in the junior women's time trial at the 2021 World Championships and joined Canyon-SRAM Generation in June last season. She took second place at Classica de l'Arros in Spain and a silver medal at the under-23 road race at German Nationals. In her top performance of the season, Niedermaier won two stages, the youth classification and the overall title at the Tour de l'Ardéche. She may not be in the lineup right away but is definitely a star for the future.
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Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
