The Olympic champion from Tokyo, Anna Kiesenhofer has today joined Israel-Premier Tech Roland for the 2023 season. The Austrian was seen at the team’s training camp earlier this month and also joined the team’s socials around the same time – usually an indicator a rider is about to join a team. Now at the end of January, the signing is made official.
Kiesenhofer has a well-known love-hate relationship with big bunch cycling, often avoiding the washing machine of the peloton. We saw her race the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta in 2022 for Team Soltec. After a solid effort on the hilly Stage 2, the Austrian went on what is a trademark long solo breakaway on Stage 4 and was only caught with a couple of kilometres to the finish line. At the time, that felt like a vindication that the Olympics win wasn’t a fluke or anything of the sort. Especially for newer fans of women’s cycling who hadn’t seen the Tour de l’Ardeche victory she took on Mont Ventoux in 2016.
“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 Femmes and other hard stage races. 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.”
Anna Kiesenhofer
“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.
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. 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. Our Israel – Premier Tech Roland Development team is founded with the purpose of giving the next generation of riders a chance to succeed, no matter their background, and we are proud to have such a diverse roster.”
Ruben Contreras, Israel-Premier Tech Roland general manager
