Atlanta Rise names new roster, Gunsalus and Hasse anchor CCB women's team
Cory Williams rode for L39ION of Los Angeles for five seasons(Image credit: L39ION of Los Angeles)
Cory Williams announced he will switch allegiances in 2024, moving from L39ION of Los Angeles to the Miami Blazers. Dominating criterium races for over a decade, Cory Williams, 30, is the younger brother of Justin Williams, and the two co-founded L39ION in 2018 to promote diversity and inclusion while expanding opportunities to race as professionals.
The duo are behind Williams Racing Development, which founded the Miami Blazers in 2021 and spawned the Austin Aviators in 2023 as a co-ed team based in Texas. After five seasons with L39ION racing in tandem with his brother, the younger Williams confirmed the move on social media the last week of December.
“It’s with a mix of emotions that I share I’ll be leaving L39ION of Los Angeles next year. The journey has been nothing short of amazing,” Williams wrote on social media.
“To my teammates these last 5 years have been the best years of my career to date! Our dedication to making the sport more inclusive and a safe place to be yourself was inspiring to say the least and I will cherish every race we won together.
“While my role may change, my love for legion will stay the same! Our goal at Williams Racing Development is to create an electric involvement and to bring you the best entertainment! And we can’t wait to put on a show for you all.”
Cory Williams began the 2024 season with the Miami Blazers racing in Belize on January 1, where he finished second in the Krem New Year’s Day Cycling Classic.
Born in Los Angeles, Cory Williams now represents Belize in international events, winning the national road race championship this past summer and taking top 10s in the road race and ITT of the Caribbean Road Championships. He also won a road stage at the Redland Bicycle Classic and 12 other podiums in one-day races.
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The Blazers are in their fourth year as a US domestic elite squad with a focus on criterium and one-day events. In 2023, the Blazers notched key UCI victories from riders winning individual time trial championships for their home nations, Joshua Kelly for Barbados and Oscar Quiroz for Belize. Brandon Feehery added a US title at the elite men’s amateur criterium championship.
Lizzy Gunsalus and Betty Hasse anchor CCB women’s team
(Image credit: CCB p/b Levine Law Group)
The CCB p/b Levine Law Group elite women’s cycling team, based near Boston, Massachusetts, confirmed a nine-rider roster for 2024 will be anchored by a pair of 20-year-old US national champions, Betty Hasse and Lizzy Gunsalus. The squad’s presenting sponsor, Levine Law Group of Mooresville, North Carolina, returns for a seventh year in support of the women’s development squad.
Hasse won the women’s U23 time trial title while Gunsalus took the U23 cyclocross victory. A key departure for the team is collegiate road national champion Natalie Quinn, who moved to EF Education-Cannondale.
“The true test of a development team is not measured by the wins on the season but by the success of our athletes once they leave our program. While we certainly celebrate those wins, especially our three under-23 national champions this year with Natalie [Quinn], Betty [Hasse], and Lizzy [Gunsalus], we’re beyond thrilled to see our riders successfully move onto the next chapters of their careers. It means we are doing our job,” said team Sports Director Lauren LeClaire.
New on the roster is Ella Brenneman, who turns 19 on January 10. She won the women’s junior criterium national championship this past season, and added a silver medal in the junior individual time trial then a silver at cyclocross national in the U23 race behind Gunsalus. Sabrina Hayes rode last season for the Fort Lewis College road team and earned nine top 10s at criteriums during Tour of America’s Dairyland and Intelligentsia Cup race weeks.
In addition to Levine Law Group, other continuing partners include Foundation Cycling, Friends & Family Dental of East Providence, Rhode Island, ProThirteen Coaching, as well as bike provider Cannondale.
CCB International cycling club began in New England in 1976 and is now the longest continually-running elite team in the US that now competes solely as a women’s multi-discipline race team. The team plans to add an extended European racing block on their calendar for 2024, with the bulk of the schedule remaining a domestic mix of road, criterium and gravel events.
The CCB p/b Levine Law Group 2024 roster: Gunsalus, Hasse, Hayes, Brenneman, Kate Seiler, Kendall Chase, Katherine Rusch, Ella Grier and Cécile Lejeune.
Atlanta Rise newest NCL-owned team fill rosters
The Atlanta Rise Cycling Club is the third US domestic, co-ed team created by the National Cycling League, joining the Miami Nights and Denver Disruptors. The 2024 co-ed roster includes eight men and five women, representing four countries.
As a US domestic elite squad, the new Atlanta Rise will be eligible to earn team points in the American Criterium Cup series and will be eligible for selection as a team in the NCL race series. While the team kits have not been unveiled, the team colours are red and black, which reflect the bold look used by the host city’s large professional sports teams Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and Atlanta Hawks.
Promising local talent Joshua Meyers, a 21-year-old biology major at Georgia State University, raced as a junior with the Mission Devo Cycling club on the road and on the track. Last year with Metro Atlanta Cycling Club, he won the Cat 4 men’s race at Spin the District Hapeville and the Cat 3 /4 men’s division at Sunny King Criterium.
Another young Georgia native is Caleb Landgrebe. The 20-year-old raced three seasons with the DDP Elite development team in the US and spent last summer in Belgium gaining experience in one-day races, which landed him a victory at Grote Prijs Schuiferskapelle.
Veteran riders with connections to Georgia include Atlanta-native Jon Brock, Brock Mason of Macon, Lucas Strain of Eatonton and Belgian Quentin Goossens, who earned a PhD in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Clayton Travis joins from Velocious Sport, where he had 11 top 10s in criteriums last season. David Davenport, 21, rode for the Denver Disruptors development squad last year and claimed seven podiums.
Elizabeth ‘Izzie’ Harden also moves from the Denver Disruptors, and has Georgia connections as a junior at Piedmont University. With dual citizenship in the US and Great Britain, Harden scored a bronze medal at US junior criterium nationals in 2019 and won the junior women’s overall title at The Gateway Cup. Fellow Briton Ruth Allen lives and works in Atlanta, and joins the team from a year with Goldman Sachs ETF’s Racing.
Other women on the team include Canadian Kara Lilly, criterium veteran Carlie Cooper, who moves from Amy D. Foundation, and Megan Sybeldon, who rode the past two seasons with Team Skyline.
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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).
