Grace Brown has signed a two-year contract to race with the French Women’s WorldTour team FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope that will take her through 2023.
The Australian will leave her current team, BikeExchange, at the end of this season.
"I am very happy to join the FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope for the next 2 years. I've watched the team take big steps recently and can't wait to play my part in this growth. Can't wait to face new challenges and continue to grow into a new team," Brown said in an announcement on social media Monday.
Brown is one of the most promising riders in cycling, having started competing under a professional contract in 2018 with Holden Team Gusto before moving up to Wiggle High5 that same year as at trainee. She then joined Mitchelton-Scott in 2019 where she has stayed through the team’s sponsorship changes to BikeExchange in 2021.
Brown has had a standout year, building a name for herself as a strong and opportunistic rider, having won Brugge-De Panne and finished third at Tour of Flanders. She recently finished third in the mountain time trial at the Giro d’Italia Donne. She then represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympic Games, competing in the road race and time trial, where she finished fourth place.
"[Brown] represents everything there is to love about cycling: boldness, pushing limits, dedication. In modern cycling, few cyclists dare to let their instincts express themselves as a priority, but Grace is one of them," Stephen Delcourt, FDJ team manager, stated in a press release.
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope formed in 2006 under the title Vienna Futuroscope. The team have risen to become one of the nine Women’sWorldTour teams competing in 2021, and include team leaders Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Marta Cavalli and French Champion Evita Muzic.
"The team have been growing on a solid foundation for several seasons thanks to our partners, the staff are working very hard and the results are coming little by little," Delcourt said.
"We are currently fourth in the world team ranking, and not by chance. The stability of the workforce as well as the impressive progress of our youth is our secret, but the gap that separates us from the top three teams in the world is still high.
"We were first and foremost a team of climbers with Cecilie, Evita and Marta, but now we can aim to play the win in the Classics and time trials. Thank you, Grace, for your trust in our project."
Delcourt has built FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope on a dream of one day winning the women’s Tour de France, and he has set the team's primary goal on contesting the coveted yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes in 2022.
