Eider Merino will enhance the revamped Laboral Kutxa women's team as their leader at some of the biggest races on the calendar in 2023. The addition of Merino is the Spanish-based team's first step in its aim to expand with a €1.8 million budget and to acquire a Women's WorldTeam licence in 2024.
"After two years in which things haven't worked out well sportswise, I need to feel like myself, to be more confident, to be happy and to find myself again, to have a calendar, motivation...And what better place than at home, even more, if possible, in a project such as the one the Fundación Euskadi has developed?" Merino said of her new programme.
"I like cycling so much I cannot be without it. I had different options, and I have chosen the Laboral Kutxa to feel like a family, to have everything close, and to be well supported. I want to share all my experiences with young riders with great potential. I want to encourage and support them in the race, in particular moments and situations. And I like a good atmosphere, and I feel I can also contribute to the group.
"We must begin to be seen and get results at the international level because we are not known and to gain respect little by little. I hope to achieve great feats with the team, all together."
Team manager Aitor Galdos confirmed to Cyclingnews that it plans to follow in the footsteps of the men's Euskaltel-Euskadi team and continue to develop riders from the Basque Country, thanks to the long-term commitments from sponsors Laboral Kutxa, Orbea and Etxeondo. Laboral Kutxa has extended its partnership with the team through to 2029.
Merino joins the team from Le Col Wahoo this year, and she has previously raced for A.R. Monex, Movistar Team, and Liontek. She is a pure climber who has finished in the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia Donne and twice at Emakumeen Bira, and has won the Spanish road race title.
Her decade of professional bike racing will bring valuable experience to the team.
"Eider is an important asset for the growth of the structure; she's been cycling for many years, in the world road elite races, at the highest level. Here we trust to recover her best version," said the team's director Ion Lazkano.
"We believe our general project matches her personality and ways of working and that she can reach top performance in a friendly environment of trust like ours. Besides, she is a great reference for the other home riders, who will no doubt learn and grow beside her."
