EF Education-TIBCO-SVB 2022 Roster Preview

2021 Season Summary

Kristen Faulkner became the focal point of the team in 2021. She took a series of strong results during the spring classics peaking with 4th at GP Oetingen and 7th at Gent Wevelgem. She came back from missing out on the Olympics by finishing 3rd at the Tour of Norway and GP Lorient. Lauren Stephens had gone toe to toe with her teammate in 2020 but wasn’t quite on that same level this year. She took a team boosting victory at the USA National Championships but generally took solid results around the top-20 this year.

Team TIBCO were unlucky with injuries to Sarah Gigante, which meant she only had 10 race days all year. New talents Veronica Ewers and Abi Smith were recruited during the season and both did well immediately. 2nd at the home race of the Joe Martin Stage Race was followed by an impressive 5th at the Tour de l’Ardeche. The Women’s Tour was tougher but Ewers was still 8th in the TT. Abi Smith was 17th at the Ceratizit Challenge, taking on the uphill TT and finishing 15th that day. She went one place better at the Women’s Tour with 16th in GC, being consistent all week.

2021 World Ranking: 7th
2021 WorldTour Ranking: 9th

Star Riders

Krista Doebel Hickok — Krista Doebel-Hickok

Riders to Watch in 2022

Letizia Borghesi is a young sprinter who first turned heads by winning a stage of the Giro Rosa in 2019. She’s pushed on and is now a contender in medium lumpy stages too. We got a glimpse of what stagiaire riders Veronica Ewers and Abi Smith can do at the end of the 2020 season. Ewers was 2nd at Joe Martin and 5th at Tour Feminin l’Ardeche, she’s already 27 but can be a GC contender already. Abi Smith consistently scored top-20 places in Women’s WorldTour races at the end of the year. Only 19, Smith was 7th at the TT in the Women’s Tour. She is absolutely one to watch develop in 2021.

Lizzy Banks will want to make up for some lost time after spending most of 2021 out with the effects of a concussion. Lauren Stephens will continue to be the figurehead for TIBCO and the heart of the American team. Krista Doebel-Hickok gives the team a new attacking flair, she was regularly on the attack and making breaks this year.

Transfer Thoughts

EF Education-TIBCO-SVB has recruited well for their first year at the Women’s WorldTour level. Despite the major losses of Kristen Faulkner and Sarah Gigante, the team has found strong replacements, some of which were already signed mid-2021 in Ewers and Smith.

Lizzy Banks will be a great road captain giving the team leadership. Doebel-Hickok returns to TIBCO with whom she turned pro back in 2013. She should cover the loss of Nina Kessler and be game to disappear up the road. We’ve seen Kathrin Hammes do a similar job too, she’ll also be a useful mountains lieutenant for the GC contenders. Omer Shapira also fits that bill, we saw her in breaks a couple of times in 2021 and that saw her take top-10 results in GC as a result.

Letizia Borghesi is a shrewd bit of young recruitment. She’s 23 and showed her 2019 promise again in 2021. 6th on the steep slopes that finish Giro dell’Emilia and 9th in GC at Semana Ciclista Valenciana showed potential as a future tough one-day puncheur with a sprint. Magdeleine Vallieres Mill raced for the WCC Team in 2021 and showed her best results at the U23 Watersley Challenge race. On the last stage, she finished 2nd ahead of 2022 WWT riders Bossuyt and Raaijmakers. That helped her achieve 7th Overall as a solo rider.