The Israel-Premier Tech-Roland team has announced the signing of Anna Kiesenhofer after the women’s Olympic road race champion was left without a major team for 2023 due to the collapse of the B&B Hotels project.
The 31-year-old Austrian won gold in Tokyo in 2021 but raced largely as a privateer in 2022, only joining the Soltec Team to ride the end-of-season Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. She raced with Lotto Soudal in 2017 but quit the team after four months due to the dangers of road racing.
At the Tokyo Olympics Kiesenhofer attacked from the start, opened an advantage of 10 minutes and held off the peloton to win gold.
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She plans to target the Tour de France Femmes and other Women’s WorldTour races with Israel-Premier Tech Roland.
"I am very happy to join Israel-Premier Tech Roland. The environment and equipment are ideal for me to perform at my best in some of the most important races of the WWT calendar. In particular, I want to target the Tour de France and other hard stage races," Kiesenhofer said.
"I'm excited about this new challenge. It won't be easy but I think we have a great team and will deliver some surprises this year."
Israel-Premier Tech Roland has undergone a revolution for 2023, retaining just Caroline Baur, Hannah Buch, and Tamara Dronova from its 2022 line-up.
Kiesenhofer joins Sofia Collinelli, Fien Delbaere, Nathalie Eklund, Mia Griffin, Silvia Magri, Thị Thật Nguyễn, Elena Pirrone, Claire Steels, and Lara Vieceli in 14-rider WorldTour roster.
"We have made a big step up with our 2023 roster and I am looking forward to seeing what our riders can do this year," team manager Ruben Contreras said.
"Alongside our new recruits, we also have Afghan road race champion Fariba Hashimi. In order to give Fariba more time to develop, she will start the year with the Israel-Premier Tech-Roland Academy before stepping up to the WorldTeam in the middle of the year.
"It's an honour to have the Olympic road race champion racing in the IPTR colours, so we are very excited to welcome Anna Kiesenhofer to the team.
"Anna is extremely talented and races courageously as we saw with her Tokyo win, and again last year when she narrowly missed the stage win at Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. She will be a great addition to the team and help us as we continue our development in the Women's WorldTour."
