Just ahead of the bunch, Silvia Valsecchi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo - Ghezzi) and Mascha Pijnenborg (Redsun Cycling Team) chase Pooley
(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
The women of Team Polaris, 2013
(Image credit: sportfoto.nl)
There will be a new women's team in the peloton in 2013, Team Polaris, of the Netherlands. The new team already has 10 riders under contract, and hopes to add some more before the season starts.
The team looks “to give a positive impulse to the development of young cycling talents,” it said on its website. It features Dutch women Karen Elzing, Alie Gercama, Laura van der Kamp, Anouska Koster and Mascha Pijnenborg, who rode together this year for Dolmans-Boels Cycling Team. They will be joined by Janine van der Meer, who rode the junior road race in the world championships, and newcomer Mirthe Wagenaar.
Two German riders will join the team, Stephanie Pohl (European points champion) and Sarah Lena Hoffman. Frenchwoman Aurore Verhoeven is also on the team. One or two more riders may join the team.
Polaris will be the youngest UCI women's team, with an average age of only 22.5 years.
The team does not yet have a commercial name sponsor, but the finances allow the team to race the coming season, while it “hopes to present a main sponsor in short time in order to guarantee a stable base for more years”.
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