Talented multi-discipline rider Lauren Molengraaf is the latest teenager to sign with a women’s WorldTour team as she commits to FDJ-SUEZ on a two-year deal at just 17 years of age.
Alongside her deal with the French team, the Dutchwoman will also continue to compete in cyclocross and mountain bike for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Lapierre-Mavic Unity respectively, as part of a unique multi-team deal until the end of 2025.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to join a Women’s World Team, a great team like FDJ-Suez,” said Molengraaf in the team’s press release. “Additionally, the team gives me the freedom to combine three disciplines. I can count on their full support to prepare me for all my goals.
“This is a great show of confidence. For a young rider like me, it’s incredible.”
The 17-year-old will ride for FDJ-Suez from January 2024 as their fifth signing for next season with Léa Curinier, Alessia Vigilia, Coralie Demay and Nina Buijsman already announced.
Molengraaf’s best results have come off the road so far while riding for Tormans with wins at the UCI junior world cups in Benidorm, Zonhoven and Tabor, but the highlight was her victory at the junior CX European Championships last year in Namur.
Tormans is the cyclocross team owned by Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, and Molengraaf’s step up in the team makes her the first female rider to sign a professional contract with Jean-François Bourlart’s Belgian side.
“During her first year with the team, Lauren Molengraaf has shown that she is one of the most talented athletes of her generation,” said Boulart. “She's a complete athlete, about whom we're convinced that she has the potential to grow to the highest level in these three disciplines.”
The Belgian CX development side were delighted to hold onto Molengraaf for the off-road season having lost promising talents to WorldTour road teams in the past with the likes of Zoe Bäckstedt and Marie Schreiber moving to EF-Education-TIBCO-SVB and SD Worx respectively.
Molengraaf is one of a wave of multi-disciplined teenagers to make big moves to the pro ranks alongside most recently, Cat Ferguson who joined Movistar at 17 and the trio of 18-year-olds that joined Lidl-Trek earlier in the summer in Izzy Sharp and the Holmgren twins, Ava and Isabella.
Ferguson and the Holmgrens will be familiar to Molengraaf having raced against each other throughout the junior ranks, with the Canadian duo also taking the top spots of the podium at the junior cyclocross World Championships earlier this year in Hoogerheide, where Molengraaf finished seventh.
“In cyclocross, I already managed to achieve several good results in the elite category,” said Molengraaf in the Belgian team’s press release. “For my first year in the U23 category, I cherish the ambition to distinguish myself in this category next winter, with the European and World Championships as main goals.”
The final part of the Dutch rider’s unique contract is riding mountain bike for Lapierre-Mavic Unity. Molengraaf is a two-time junior Dutch national champion in the discipline.
Molengraaf will ride her final junior race before turning eighteen in October at the European Championships road race in Drenthe this Sunday.
