Megan Jastrab (Picnic-PostNL) not only surpassed her original goal of raising $10,000 to assist junior women from the United States, she added a chunk of extra change from her success at the Simac Ladies Tour as well.
Earlier this year, there was a chance only two of four quota spots for junior women would be filled for Team USA at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. There was no shortage of talent, only money.
Now thanks to the former junior world champion, her crowdfunding campaign has generated $15,111, as of September 9, and will be distributed evenly to four young riders - Lidia Cusack, Liliana Edwards, Alyssa Sarkisov and Alexis Jaramillo.
"It'd be a shame if two of the girls have potential and miss out, just because of funding. So that's when I was like, 'Let's put it out there'. Donating my prize money, at least I can fund one junior," Jastrab told Cyclingnews about her idea to raise money. "Then we opened it up [with crowdfunding] and it's up to $15,000. It's encouraging to see."
This year's Road Worlds, September 21-27, will be hosted on the continent of Africa for the first time. It's a positive for Rwanda in the history books, but also an expensive proposition for many riders from around the world. The Danish cycling federation will not send any junior or under-23 riders because of costs, and will only send elites for road races.
"Megan was aware that a trip to Africa would be particularly expensive and saw an opportunity to help alleviate financial stress for athletes, with a particular interest in supporting the Junior Women," a spokesperson for USA Cycling told Cyclingnews.
"The money Megan has raised is being split evenly across the junior women to offset the expenses associated with the trip. It’s a testimony to Megan’s passion and heart for the sport and upcoming generations of cyclists."
Cusack, who won Druivenkoers-Overijse junior race two week ago, and Edwards, the US junior ITT national champion, will race the 18.3km time trial on September 23. They will be joined in the road race four days later by Sarkisov, the US junior road race national champion, and Jaramillo, the silver medalist at nationals in the road race. Cusack and Sarkisov also finished top 10 for junior women at the 2025 Cyclocross World Championships.
Jastrab said she was offered a spot to race Worlds in Switzerland last year, which would have required her to pay a fee and cover her own travel as an elite rider. While she declined the spot because the course was not suited for her, it caused consternation that any level of rider could have dreams dashed to test themselves at the highest level because of dollars and cents, not ability.
"As an organisation, I don't think that USA Cycling has the funding for every category, every discipline, for every trip. So my manager and I, we put together a proposal for a scholarship, that would be in the spring for juniors selected for the spring trip to race Nation's Cups. I wanted to help, as it's their first experience in Europe and allows you to qualify for Worlds," Jastrab said as she explained what sparked her to help with the funding of young US riders.
"With a scholarship, it would also come with mentorship, so I would give my time and make it more educational. Then it was delayed and delayed."
The California native said it was a conversation with USA Cycling's Tanner Putt, director of women's juniors, that turned the spark into a flame, that resulted in the launch of a GoFundMe page, given he said they had four quota spots but could maybe send only two because of costs.
She also pledged to donate her own prize money and the bank account received a big bump on Sunday after she finished third overall at the Simac Ladies Tour, with a pair of podiums on early stages in the Netherlands. It was her best result of her career at a stage race.
"I did the Giro and the Tour and came out of the Tour pretty tired. I had a really big training week [prior to Simac] which my body was not responding to, so I raced in Plouay two days before Simac and I was just suffering a lot. I just felt so dead to the world. I was a bit worried starting Simac, and the first stage did not go well," she told Cyclingnews from the Netherlands.
"So then to turn it around in the second stage, make the first echelon and then sprint to third, and then in the third stage sprint to second, yeah, it's really crazy."
She was passed by Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) for the middle GC spot after the time trial on the fifth day, but finished fifth in the bunch sprint on the final stage to secure third overall. That finish also became the biggest points haul for the Picnic-PostNL team so far this season, 160 in one swoop, delivering big rewards for the team as well as the junior women's fund raising.
Jastrab know all too well the importance of opportunities in the early years of the development pathway, earning three junior world titles in 2019, two on the track and one on the road. She also owns 27 national titles across multiple disciplines, and earned a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games as part of the Team Pursuit squad.
At these Road World Championship, Jastrab will be just a fan, and watch on her TV. For next year, she said she'd still like to set up a scholarship, and is open to help from sponsors.
"I'm excited to watch Worlds. I'll be cheering from afar," said Jastrab, who through the process has become even more invested in the outcome of the junior events. "So I think it's just exciting to see their opportunity. Also to race World Championships, they're with the elites, the U23s, everything, it's exciting to watch."
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