Annemarie Worst is set for a fresh chapter in both road cycling and cyclocross after being announced as a new signing for Team Carbonbike Giordana Sofré and Baloise – Het Poetsbureau Lions.
The Dutch rider will join Team Carbonbike Giordana Sofré for the road programme this summer, before linking up with Baloise – Het Poetsbureau Lions for the next cyclocross season. The announcement presents it as a joined-up move across both disciplines, with Worst returning to racing with what her new teams describe as renewed motivation after an injury-hit period.
Worst, now 30, remains one of the most recognisable names in women’s cyclocross from the past decade. Her ProCyclingUK rider profile captures the scale of that career. She won the under-23 world title in 2017, claimed the elite European title in 2018 and then took the overall Cyclocross World Cup title in 2019-20. That winter was still the peak of her career to date, with World Cup wins in Bern, Tábor and Nommay, alongside victories in races such as Kruibeke, Beringen, Maldegem, Hamme, Zonhoven, Diegem, Overijse and Oostmalle.
She also established herself as one of the most consistent elite riders of her generation. Worst finished second at the world championships in both 2020 and 2021, added European silver in 2020, and regularly placed highly across the World Cup, Superprestige and X2O Trophy standings. Even when she was not winning overall titles, she remained a rider capable of producing top-level results across an entire winter campaign.
More recently, though, her progress has been disrupted. ProCyclingUK covered her hand fractures in late 2024 and later reported that she was sidelined with a collarbone fracture at the start of the 2025-26 cyclocross season. The statement announcing her arrival with the two teams says injuries have held her back in recent years, but frames this new move as a reset rather than a step down.
That makes this a notable signing even beyond the headline value of her name. Worst is not being presented simply as an experienced rider adding depth to a squad. She is being positioned as someone who can still achieve significant results if she gets a stable run of health and form. For a rider with her cyclocross pedigree, that gives the move more intrigue than a standard late-career transfer.
Photo Credit: Cor VosOn the road, Worst has already spent time in the women’s WorldTour environment. She rode with Ciclismo Mundial, then Plantur-Pura, before moving to Fenix-Deceuninck and later Fenix-Premier Tech. Her road career has never carried the same weight as her cyclocross results, but she has remained tied to teams with strong cross links and a clear interest in riders who can move between disciplines.
This new arrangement appears to continue that pattern, but with a more defined split. Team Carbonbike Giordana Sofré will take her into its road programme this summer, while Baloise – Het Poetsbureau Lions will become her home for the cyclocross season. It is a structure that gives her a fresh base in both parts of her racing calendar.
For Baloise – Het Poetsbureau Lions, the signing adds a rider with genuine elite-level cyclocross pedigree. Worst is not just a former winner picking up one last contract on reputation alone. She has won major titles, stood on world championship podiums and spent years racing against the strongest generation the women’s sport has seen. Even if she does not return all the way to her 2019-20 peak, she still brings experience, technical quality and a proven ability to compete at the front of the biggest races.
There is also evidence that the top end has not been completely lost, even amid the setbacks. Her win at Kermiscross Ardooie in 2023 was a reminder of the level she can still hit when healthy, and her return to racing in Hamme in late 2025 showed how much interest still surrounds her comeback attempts.
The road move is perhaps the more curious part of the announcement, simply because it opens the possibility of a broader rebuild to her racing identity. Worst has always been known first as a cyclocross rider, but a summer programme with Team Carbonbike Giordana Sofré gives her a platform to find rhythm, rebuild condition and add structure to the months before the winter begins again.
The bigger question now is what level she can reach from here. Her best seasons showed a rider capable of winning major one-day cyclocross races and contending for the overall classifications that define an entire winter. That is a very high bar, especially after injuries. But riders with her technical ability and race feel do not simply lose their relevance overnight. If the physical setbacks are genuinely behind her, there is every chance this signing will be seen as one of the more interesting comeback stories heading into the next cyclocross season.
For readers coming to this from the road side of the sport, ProCyclingUK’s cyclocross hub and guide to the cyclocross season, races, teams and points give the wider context for where Worst fits into the current winter picture.
For now, the message is one of renewal. Worst has new teams, a clear dual-discipline structure and, crucially, the sense of a rider being backed to compete again rather than merely participate. After several quieter years, that alone makes this a transfer worth watching.
