After suffering numerous injuries in a crash at the end of stage 4 of the Baloise Ladies Tour, Alexis Magner earned some extra incentive to work on recovery, inking a contract with EF Education-Oatly for next season.
Magner crashed along with Charlotte Kool (Picnic-PostNL) and Fien Van Eynde (Fenix-Deceuninck) in the final corner, striking a post, leaving her with a collapsed lung, several broken ribs, multiple fractures in her left scapula and a broken sternum.
"All my fractures are healing pretty well, and my mobility is getting a lot better. It was really bad," Magner said.
"The day that I was discharged from the hospital was the day that I signed my contract with EF Education-Oatly. That was a wild experience. Mentally, I needed it at the moment. It was like, 'I have to get better because I have this thing to look forward to.' Joining this team is the best motivation for my recovery."
The contract comes as her current team, Cynisca Cycling, are struggling to find funding for the coming season, and EF Education-Oatly are almost certain to jump to the WorldTour. Magner previously raced six seasons with Canyon-SRAM, winning the Drentse Acht van Westerveld in 2018 and coming second in Omloop het Nieuwsblad and the Ronde van Drenthe.
However, she stopped with Canyon-SRAM in 2021 and stepped back to racing the domestic circuit with L39ION of Los Angeles until this season, when she felt ready to return to Europe.
"I was really burned out when I left the WorldTour, so I stepped back to just find myself again," Magner said. "But last year I decided that I wanted to come back and I wanted to strive for that place in the peloton that I know I'm capable of holding. Being older and having that experience, I want to give back to the younger riders coming up.
"My motivation to come back has two parts: to reach the level that I know I'm capable of and also to pass on everything that I've learned over the course of my career. My time is limited, and I want to make sure that with all the lessons I've learned and the mistakes that I've made, I can teach the younger generation to hopefully guide them.
"It's not lost on me that it's going to be a very hard road to be at the pointy end of the race and competitive at the WorldTour level. I know it's going to take some time, but just having the opportunity to be there, giving my best in every race, and being a super supportive teammate to all these talented riders on the squad is incredibly exciting."
