Human Powered Health riders in Portugal for January training camp – Gallery
First meetup for Women’s WorldTour squad
Training camp on the roads of southern Portugal for men's ProTeam
Human Powered Health riders and staff gathered in the southernmost coastal region of Portugal for their first training camp of 2022. Based in Portimão in the Algarve region, riders for the men's ProTeam started training on January 9 while riders for the women, a newly-minted Women's WorldTour squad, arrived on January 16. Both squads trained for 10 days, with three days of overlap for the two squads to learn from one another.
““We have spent a lot of time training and racing in Portugal over the years. It’s a beautiful country with incredible roads for cycling. We have a lot of Portuguese staff working for our team,” said Jonas Carney, performance director, noting that one of the key staff José Sousa, former Portuguese pro cyclist and now a lead soigneur for the men's team.
“Along with José, they come with an enormous amount of local knowledge and connections. Sometimes those small details make a big difference and they’ve done an incredible job of helping to organize this camp.”
For the men's squad the location of the camp was also convenient for the start of the season next month at Volta ao Algarve. Last year that five-day Portuguese stage race was postponed until May, but it will return to early spring in 2022, taking place from February 16-20.
“We will race in the Volta ao Algarve in February, so we are doing reconnaissance of the courses during the camp, and also leaving our vehicles here until Algarve starts,” added Carney.
The 18-rider team held its first competition of the new season with bragging rights for the 'Camp Champs' during training camp, Ben King taking the honours from an early breakaway with Chad Haga and Stephen Bassett.
The women's squad continues with camp this week on the Algarve coast, led by sports director Joanne Kiesanowski. Following a few training rides with the men's team, the women worked on climbing and team drills as a unit.
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The team has 12 riders for 2022, with only a trio of riders returning - sprinter Olivia Ray, Olympian Lily Williams and US women’s U23 cylco-cross national champion Katie Clouse.
"Human Powered Health believes we have constructed a team which is well rounded with all types of racers to put our best foot forward while shifting into World Tour status,” Kiesanowski told Cyclingnews earlier this month.
The first race of the season will be at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Febuary 17-20, followed by the spring Classics campaign.
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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).