Carlotta Cipressi has extended her contract with Human Powered Health through the end of 2028, continuing a partnership that has taken the 23-year-old Italian from developing WorldTour rider to a regular member of the team’s biggest stage-race squads.
Cipressi joined Human Powered Health ahead of the 2025 season on an initial two-year agreement and has since raced both the Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes. The new contract gives her another two seasons to continue developing, with longer stage races becoming an increasingly important part of her ambitions.
“I’m super happy to renew with the team because I’ve spent two really nice years here,” Cipressi said. “The team has taught me a lot, and I’ve improved and grown so much. I think there’s still a lot to do, so I want to continue improving with them.”
Her extension comes almost exactly two years after Cipressi originally signed with Human Powered Health, when she arrived as a 21-year-old still establishing what sort of rider she could become at WorldTour level.
Cipressi becoming a regular in major stage races
Human Powered Health believe one of the clearest areas of progress has been Cipressi’s growing value during stage races.
She made her Giro d’Italia Women debut in 2025, an edition which carried additional significance because the route passed through her home city, before returning to the Giro this season and earning selection for her first Tour de France Femmes.
General manager Ro De Jonckere believes her development has been driven as much by her approach to training and feedback as anything she has done in individual races.
“What I really appreciate about Carlotta is the way she approaches her work,” De Jonckere said. “She is incredibly professional; she gives 100% every day and, perhaps most importantly, she is always eager to learn.”
“When we give her feedback, she listens, takes it on board and gets to work with it.”
Cipressi’s racing has begun to reflect that progression. She was active at the Tour de Suisse Women in June, joining Margot Vanpachtenbeke in the break on Stage 2 to Locarno before becoming one of Human Powered Health’s most visible riders at the Tour de France Femmes.
“You can really see that in the way she has developed over the past two seasons, both as a rider and as a person,” De Jonckere said. “She has already taken some important steps forward, but I still believe there is a lot more potential there.”
Tour de France Femmes became the high point of her season
Cipressi describes 2026 as the best season of her career, although it did not begin that way.
Illness disrupted her Australian campaign and left her well below the level she had hoped to carry into the opening months. Rather than defining her season, that difficult start eventually became the beginning of a steady rebuild towards the summer.
“This year was the best season of my life. It was a roller coaster,” Cipressi said. “I was a disaster at the beginning, having fallen ill in Australia, but with the support of the whole team, we completely changed the season from a really low moment to the highest one.”
That high point was her Tour de France Femmes debut.
Cipressi was not selected as one of Human Powered Health’s primary general classification riders, which allowed her to look for opportunities elsewhere. On Stage 5 from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, she attacked with around 100 kilometres remaining and helped form the day’s breakaway on one of the hardest rolling stages of the opening half of the race.
Her ride prompted a closer look at Cipressi’s career and development during the Tour, with the Italian increasingly demonstrating that she is comfortable taking responsibility rather than simply riding anonymously in support.
“The Tour is the best memory of my life and the highest point of my career,” she said.
For Human Powered Health, the value was not one individual placing. It was evidence that Cipressi could handle the demands of the biggest race on the women’s calendar and still look for ways to influence it.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Billy CeustersStage-race development is the next target
Cipressi wants that part of her racing to become more important during the next two seasons.
“For the future, I have a lot of goals,” she said. “I want to develop and grow as a person and also as a rider. I want to improve in stage races, and I think this is the best place and the best environment to do it.”
There is still room to establish exactly where her strongest role lies.
Cipressi has the climbing ability to contribute on difficult terrain but has also shown an appetite for attacking earlier in stages rather than waiting for the final ascent. At 23, Human Powered Health do not need to narrow her programme too quickly.
That flexibility fits the wider shape of the Human Powered Health 2026 Women’s WorldTour team, which has relied on several different riders rather than building its season around one dominant leader.
For Cipressi, the next step is likely to involve greater responsibility within that structure. That might mean protecting a classification in some stage races, being given freedom to attack in others or continuing to work for teammates when the team has a stronger GC option.
The contract through 2028 gives her time to develop all three parts of that role.
Team environment convinced Cipressi to stay
Cipressi repeatedly returned to the atmosphere within Human Powered Health when explaining why she wanted to renew.
“I see a really good atmosphere within the team, with the staff and the girls,” she said. “Every time I go away for a training camp or a race, it’s a new experience and a new motivation for me to improve and give my best.”
The wider programme has also changed during her time there.
Human Powered Health entered 2026 looking to move beyond simply maintaining its place in the middle of the Women’s WorldTour and convert more of its race presence into results. The team has continued strengthening for 2027, including the addition of Marta Lach from SD Worx-Protime.
Cipressi sees that collective development as another reason to remain.
“Everyone gives 100% of themselves, and that’s really important to me,” she said. “I really appreciate the work everyone in the team puts in.”
“I think the team is improving a lot year by year, and I’ve seen that from last year to this one. I want to be part of that development.”
Performance Lab remains part of Cipressi’s development
Human Powered Health’s Performance Labs will remain part of the process as Cipressi moves into the next stage of her career.
She is preparing for her third visit to Boston, where the team uses physiological and movement testing to establish individual baselines and identify areas for improvement.
“I’m always happy to go to Boston because it’s a nice experience and an adventure,” Cipressi said. “It’s also a chance to spend more time with the team at the lab, talk with them and get to know them better.”
“Testing in the lab allows us to collect more data, understand where we need to improve and see what we might be missing.”
Away from racing, Cipressi is also a talented artist, but the next two seasons will largely be about establishing how much further she can progress on the bike.
When she first signed for Human Powered Health in 2024, Cipressi was taking her first step into the Women’s WorldTour. Two years later she has ridden the Giro twice, completed her first Tour de France Femmes and become a more regular presence in difficult stage races.
Her new deal gives her until the end of 2028 to find out where that development leads.
