Team BikeExchange have announced the re-signing of Ane Santesteban for a further two seasons. Joining the Australian outfit from WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling a year ago, Santesteban has established herself as an important domestique this season.
"I am really happy to be staying for two more years with the GreenEDGE family," she said. "I found a really good group in which everyone can give their best and I feel at home now with the team."
Last season, as well as being a key support rider for teammates such as Grace Brown and Amanda Spratt, Santesteban finished second in the road race at the Spanish National Championships and third in the general classification of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche.
"I think my season went well and I improved a lot towards the end of the year, so I am looking forward to continuing to develop with the team and see what we can achieve together and how I can personally develop further," she said.
A climber by trade, over the years Santesteban has accumulated some impressive results. In 2020, she finished seventh overall at the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile while, in the same year, she won the mountains classification at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, ahead of Demi Vollering (then Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Anna van der Breggen (then Boels-Dolmans).
"We are very pleased to keep working with Ane for the upcoming two seasons," Brent Copeland, the team's general manager said. "Ane only joined GreenEDGE Cycling last year, but she adjusted to our team spirit straight away. We have really high expectations of her and believe that her experience and characteristics make her one of the riders in the team that can really help us to achieve important results in many races throughout the year."
Following a season afflicted by injuries to their star riders and still reeling from the loss of Annemiek van Vleuten to Movistar, Team BikeExchange have looked to bolster their squad by signing Georgia Baker and Alexandra Manly, who have previously raced with the team but have recently been track focussed, along with 22-year-old Ruby Roseman-Gannon.
