Six riders from five different countries with ages ranging from 23 to 34 – here’s some more information about our team for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, so you can get to know a little more about the riders behind the results.
Kristen Faulkner – 29 – USA
Alexandra Manly – 26 – Australia
Ruby Roseman-Gannon – 23 – Australia
Ane Santesteban – 31 – Spain
Amanda Spratt – 34 – Australia
Urška Žigart – 25 – Slovenia
Kristen Faulkner (29 – USA 🇺🇸)
A former rower during her time at Harvard University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science, Faulkner started cycling competitively in 2017 alongside her job at a venture capital firm, before turning pro in 2020.
The 29-year-old was born in Homer, Alaska and raised in the Alaskan fishing community, and only left her job in 2021. Faulkner enjoys languages and can speak both Chinese and Spanish and placed second at the junior world rowing championships.
Despite the late start in cycling, Faulkner hit the ground running in her debut season as a professional cyclist, taking a stage win at her first race in Europe at the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche. Faulkner has gone from strength to strength ever since in her first season on a WorldTour team with Team BikeExchange-Jayco, most recently taking two stage wins at the Giro Donne.
Alexandra Manly (26 – Australia 🇦🇺)
After racing for GreenEDGE Cycling between 2015 – 2019, Alex took time away from the road to focus on her track racing and was very successful in doing so. In 2019, Alex was crowned a world champion, winning the Points race and Team Pursuit. She also went on to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for Australia, finishing in fifth place.
The rider from Adelaide has since turned her full attention back to the road and is currently enjoying a successful 2022 season in the WorldTour peloton, having claimed four stage wins and the overall title at the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour. In her time off the bike, Alex likes spending time with her family, playing cards, travelling, and listening to music.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon (23 – Australia 🇦🇺)
Ruby stepped up to the women’s WorldTour with Team BikeExchange-Jayco this season, after multiple strong showings in 2021, such as winning the Australian road series. At just 23 years of age, Ruby already has a long list of achievements to her name, on and off the bike, such as a third-place finish at the Santos Tour Down under in 2021 as an amateur rider whilst also studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in neuroscience.
The rider from Victoria started the 2022 season with a bang, winning the Australian criterium championships before getting stuck into a full European road season with the squad where she has already achieved multiple top-10 placings.
Ane Santesteban (31 – Spain 🇪🇸)
Ane made her debut in 2009 and, four years later, was Spanish road champion. Having represented Spain at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, Ane is an all-round established climber. In 2020, the Basque rider finished in 7th place on the General Classification at the Giro d’Italia Donne and has twice finished in 9th place at Le Course by Le Tour de France.
Born in Gipuzkoa, Ane can speak multiple languages fluently including Basque, Spanish, English, French and Italian, and is currently studying Marketing.
Amanda Spratt (34 – Australia 🇦🇺)
A three-time Australian road race champion and two-time world championship medallist, Amanda Spratt needs no introduction. The Australian has won prestigious races such as a stage at the Giro d’Italia Donne plus two third-place finishes overall, overall general classification victories at Emakumeem Bira and the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under on three occasions.
Her results speak for themselves and as the longest serving member of our women’s squad, ‘Spratty’ has been a reliable team player since joining the team back in 2012. She has proven time and time again she is one of the world’s best climbers.
Born and bred in the Blue Mountains into a cycling family, both her family and the terrain she grew up in have helped shaped the cyclist she is today.
Outside of cycling Amanda has completed a Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations) as well as a University Certificate in Business. Amanda competed at her first World Championships at 11 years of age – on a BMX bike at the BMX World Championships in Melbourne in 1998.
Urška Žigart (25 – Slovenia 🇸🇮)
Urška is one of those people that has a talent for speaking languages and can speak Slovenian, Serbian and English fluently and is almost fluent in French, Spanish and Italian. The 25-year-old lives with her fiancée Tadej Pogacar in Slovenia and Monaco and enjoyed her first professional victory for Team BikeExchange-Jayco last year, after a 60km solo effort to win stage four of Vuelta Valenciana.
The two-time Slovenian time trial champion has proven herself as a consistent and strong climber, regularly sacrificing herself for her teammates and when she is not on the bike, she enjoys singing, playing a piano or a guitar or just relaxing in front of a good movie or TV series.