Over the last half-decade or so, Team Torelli has seen many talented riders flow through its team. In its role as one of the elite domestic teams, it’s the nature of things that any rider who is strong will get snapped up quickly. The most talented riders often only get to spend one season at Torelli before moving on. Plenty of the riders on this list (particularly nearer the bottom) still have potential to be realised and could be stars of the sport.
The other side to Torelli has been the use of guest riders, some of whom were known before but others were riders still looking for chances at bigger races and make a name for themselves. There’s a whole host of riders who were relatively unknown when they were guest riders but have gone on to achieve big results since.
Here’s a run-down of some of the best riders to have raced for Team Torelli in its various guises over the years.
Alice Sharpe
2020 Team: Ciclotel
Years on Torelli: 2017-2018
Other Teams: WCC Team (2019), Team Ciclotel (2020), Team Rupelcleaning (2021)
Solid performances for Torelli abroad included 17th at Omloop van Borsele and 3rd Overall in the non-UCI Tour Ta’Malta in 2017. She won the Tour of Omagh back home in Ireland and finished 8th in the Lincoln GP.
Alice Sharpe has continued to progress since being part of Torelli. She joined the WCC Team in 2019 and won the Irish National Champs. She then joined UCI Continental team Ciclotel for their only season in 2020 and is confirmed for new Contintental team Rupelcleaning in their debut 2021 season.
Lauren Creamer
2020 Team: Massi-Tactic
Years on Torelli: 2017-2019
Other Teams: Podium Ambition (2016), Multum Accountants (2018-2019), Massi-Tactic (2020), Lviv Cycling (2021)
Creamer joined Torelli after a season at UCI level with Podium Ambition. She was 12th in the 10th round of that year’s Tour Series before finishing 2nd in the Irish National Road Race and 4th in the Time Trial. Creamer finished the season scoring top-10s in local Belgian races.
She continued to race in Ireland and Belgium in 2018 for local West Midlands based Brotherton Cycles before being picked up by the Belgian Autoglas Wetteren team that renamed itself to Multum Accountants in 2019. Creamer scored some decent results, including 10th overall in the Tour de Belle Isle en Terre and was picked up by Spanish team Massi-Tactic for 2020. She finished 17th on a stage in the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and will be racing back in Belgium again in 2021 for Lviv Cycling.
Leah Dixon
2020 Team: Team TIBCO
Years on Torelli: 2018 (kinda)
Other Teams: Team TIBCO (2019-2021)
A latecomer to cycling, Dixon only bought a road bike in 2016 and did her first racing in 2017. Snapped up before the 2018 actually began, Torelli signed Leah Dixon before she went on to race for OnForm through the 2018 season.
A strong performance in the break during the Tour de Yorkshire in 2019 convinced Team TIBCO to sign her a few months later. Her last race for OnForm saw Dixon finish 20th in the Tour of Scotland. Dixon’s been a solid lieutenant for TIBCO ever since and used the lockdown to shine by winning the V-Women’s Tour on Zwift.
Emily Kay
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2018-2020
Other Teams: WNT (2017)
Emily Kay grew up through the Great Britain track teams. As a junior she helped set the senior world record in the team pursuit in 2013. Kay has been a European silver medallist 3 times in 3 different events. She joined WNT Pro Cycling for the 2017 road season but didn’t end up racing much at the higher level.
She’s raced for Torelli between 2018 and 2020, earning a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the scratch race in 2018. She’s largely pursued a large track programme through that time, only racing the odd Tour Series race and a couple of others. In late 2019 she switched from GB to race for Ireland, earning a 3rd place in the Omnium at the Milton round of the Track World Cup in 2020.
Emily Meakin
2020 Team: Drops Cycling
Years on Torelli: 2018
Other Teams: Isorex-Aqua (2019), Drops Cycling (2020)
Emily Meakin started racing in 2016 for the Mammoth Lifestyle team, continuing for them into 2017. Meakin did her first UCI race with Torelli in the Healthy Ageing Tour in 2018 whilst also racing for the Fusion RT for most of the domestic season.
Snapped up by Belgian team Isorex-Aqua for 2019, Meakin did almost all the Belgian based UCI races. Her best results were 28th on a BeNe Ladies Tour stage and 29th in GP d’Isbergues Féminin. Signed by Drops for 2020, a crash on the 2nd stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana saw her break her collarbone. The rest of her season has been spent winning National 10, 25 and 50 mile time trial championships.
Sophie Wright
2020 Team: Bigla-Katusha/Paule Ka
Years on Torelli: 2017-2018
Other Teams: Bigla-Katusha/Paule Ka (2018-2020)
Sophie Wright was identified as having huge potential early on. She was 3rd in the 2016 Junior European Championships road race and won the junior mountain bike competition. The following year she was 12th in the World Juniors road race. Wright was 19th in only her 2nd 1.1 level race in 2018 and was leading the UK Women’s Road Series for Torelli when Cervelo-Bigla signed her as a stagiare for the end of the season.
She made an immediate impact, finishing 6th Overall in the Giro Toscana. 2019’s best result was 8th Overall in the Giro delle Marche, Early in 2020, Wright finished 2nd in the youth competition at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and 24th Overall. Still only 21 years old, Wright has been signed for Ale BTC Ljublana for 2021 and will be racing cyclocross for Tarteletto this winter.
Edwige Pitel
2020 Team: Cogeas Mettler Pro
Years on Torelli: 2018
Other Teams: S.C. Michela Fanini (2016-2017), Cogeas Mettler (2019-2020)
The 53 year old raced for Torelli in the 2018 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. During the 2020 season, Pitel kept setting new records in each race she entered. Pushing her own oldest rider in a UCI race age up further and further. Pitel works as a computer systems engineer so is technically a very elite amateur.
Her career stretches back to the 2003 season and she was 2003 World Duathlon Champion. After some ups and downs, Pitel has spent most of her career racing for S.C. Michela Fanini Rox. Her time at Torelli came as that partnership ended, before she was picked up by Cogeas Mettler later in 2018. She finished her only race for Torelli in 36th Overall.
Alexandra Moreno Roca
2020 Team: Sopela
Years on Torelli: 2018
Other Teams: Sopela (2019-2020)
Another rider to race for Torelli for the 2018 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana was Alexandra Moreno Roca. Aged only 18 at the time, she finished near the back on the first 3 stages and then DNFed the final stage. She was picked up by the Sopela cycling team for 2019 but DNFed most of her races that season without a result to really speak of. She left Sopela at the end of August 2020. Despite a promising career best of 55th at the Vuelta Ciclista Valenciana, she then finished outside of the time-limit on Stage 1 of the Setmana Ciclista.
Lydia Boylan
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2019-2020
Other Teams: WNT (2015-2018)
She got her start racing UCI races in Belgium and the Netherlands for amateur teams in 2013 and 2014. Between 2015 and 2017, Lydia Boylan was a 3-time consecutive Irish national champion on the road. She was part of the WNT team that grew from an amateur team into a UCI team whilst she was there. A career highlight was winning a stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valencian, holding off the attentions of sprinters, including teammate Katie Archibald. The same year she was 2nd in the Madison at the European track champs.
Boylan finished 8th in the Scratch Race at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The WNT team shed almost all its British/Irish riders at the end of the 2018 season. Boylan then signed for the Torelli team, where she’s been ever since.
Niamh Fisher-Black
2020 Team: Bigla-Katusha/Paule Ka
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Watersley Development Team (2018), Mike Greer Homes (2019) Bigla-Katusha/Paule Ka (2020)
Another rider to have combined an intial opportunity at Torelli to reaching the Women’s WorldTour with Bigla. The season before Fisher-Black joined Torelli was spent racing in Belgium for the Watersley Development Team. She finished 16th Overall in the Watersley Ladies Challenge.
2019 was spent racing for both Mike Greer Homes and Torelli. She was 9th in her home Gravel & Tar race and 13th in the Tour Down Under. She took the QoM competition at the Tour of the Reservoir in the UK and 17th at the Tour of Scotland. With obvious promise, she was snapped up by Bigla Pro Cycling in September 2019. In 2020, she was 2nd on a Giro Rosa stage as she finished 21st overall in the biggest stage race in the calendar. She finished the season 12th at Flèche Wallonne before being signed for SD Worx for the 2021 season.
Nicola Juniper
2020 Team: Isorex-Aqua
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Les Filles (2013), Echelon (2014), Giordana (2015), Ford Ecoboost (2016-2017), NJC-Biemme-Echelon (2018), Mexx-Watersley (2019), Isorex-Aqua (2020)
Nicola Juniper has had a long career in cycling, starting in 2009. She was 15th in the 2010 British national champs. Her first international races were in 2013, racing against the likes of Van Dijk and Blaak at the Lotto Belgium Tour. Juniper was 8th in the first Tour de Yorkshire in 2016 and raced well in that race again in 2018, finishing 3rd in the QoM comp.
Domestically, Juniper has always been a contender. She’s won loads of rounds of the yearly Tour Series and most of the other domestic races like the Newport Nocture and Stafford GP. Interestingly it looks like Juniper was only scheduled to race for Torelli. She appears on the startlist for Torelli at the 2019 GP Elsy Jacobs but then doesn’t show on the results of the opening Prologue stage.
Olha Kulynych
2020 Team: Team Ciclotel
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Team Ciclotel (2020)
Olha Kylynych appeared on the scene at the 2017 Junior Worlds, finishing 13th in the road race (just behind Sophie Wright) and 14th at the time trial. 2018 was spent racing for the British YRDP Mix Team, with the likes of Illi Gardner and Fiona Turnbull, plus the odd race for a mixed Ukraine team.
22nd Overall at Gracia-Orlová and 26th (2nd Youth) at the Tour de l’Ardèche were impressive results in 2019, racing between Torelli and a Ukraine team. Her one race for Torelli was the Festival Elsy Jacobs where she finished 51st and 80th before DNFing the 3rd stage. She moved on to Belgian team Ciclotel for 2020 and won the GP Belek at the start of the season.
Sandra Levenez
2020 Team: Team Arkea
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Team Arkea (2020)
Sandara Levenez comes from a duathlon background, winning the 2014 and 2019 World Championships whilst also being a PE teacher in the past. Her road career at the highest level started in 2012, with an 18th place finish at the Chrono Des Nations time trial. By 2018 she was racing for US Vern Cyclisme, finishing around 40-50th in a couple of the French UCI races. 2019 saw Levenez race for US Vern Cyclisme, Breizh Ladies and Torelli. Like a few others on this list, Levenez only raced a single race for Torelli at Kreiz Kreizh Elites. She finished 34th on Stage 1 but was DNS the following day.
Aged 41, Levenez pushed onto a new level once racing resumed after lockdown in 2020. She was 2nd in La Perigord Ladies and 4th in the National TT. 21st at La Course was respectable in her first WorldTour race and then she was 5th Overall at the Tour de l’Ardèche.
Laura Vainionpää
2020 Team: S-Bikes Bodhi
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Isorex (2017), Healthmate (2018), Memorial Santos (2019), S-Bikes Bodhi (2019-2020)
Laura Vainionpää is another like Nicola Juniper who should’ve raced for Torelli but didn’t actually take part. Vainionpää was scheduled to be a guest rider for Torelli at the 2019 Omloop van de Westhoek. The trouble is, the race was cancelled due to stormy conditions. The Finn has been based in Belgium since 2017, racing for 3 different Belgian teams. She’s come close to being National Champion with 5 top-4 results in the last 6 years.
Despite plenty of time spent racing in Belgium she’s yet to get a top-20 result. She’s finished 22nd in the 2018 Gooik-Gerardsbergen-Gooik and 27th in the 2019 Flanders Diamond Tour. It’s the same after the 2020 season, with a best result of 43rd at Omloop van het Hageland.
Sandra Weiss
2020 Team: Andy Schleck Cycles
Years on Torelli: 2019
Other Teams: Bigla Pro Cycling (2012-2014), BH Pro Cycling (2015-2016), Re/Max Cycling (2017-2019), Andy Schleck Cycles (2019-2020)
Another rider with a long career, the Swiss Sandra Weiss started racing internationally in 2010 and 2011 for a mixed Switzerland team. She was picked up the Swiss Bigla Pro team for 2012 and stayed with them until 2014. Very much a domestique at this point, Weiss’ best result was 2nd in her national champs road race in 2013. It was a similar story during her time at BH, her best results were consistently in the national championships. 2017 saw her first top-10 at the GP Cham-Hagendorn.
2018 had an encouraging 16th at Omloop van Borsele but 2019 was spent racing for different teams. The first part of the season was at Re/Max before racing for Torelli at the Tour of Scotland only. She finished 58th Overall for Torelli. She moved onto the Andy Schleck team for the GP d’Isbergues and has been there ever since.
Holly Breck
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2020
Other Teams: Twenty16 (2016), Sho-Air Twenty20 (2017), Cylance (2018), Québecor – Stingray (2019), Fearless Femme (2019)
Holly began racing in 2010 and moved up the categories quickly. 2015 saw her do well at the top level domestically in America before being snapped up by the Twenty16 team in 2016. This gave Breck the chance to race in Europe for the first time but there were no standout results in 2016 nor 2017. She moved to the high-profile Cylance team for 2018 and whilst she did a full Classics season, she DNFed most of the races.
Cylance closed at the end of the 2018 season and Breck was forced to move down a level. She finished 6th on a Colorado Classic stage and 38th Overall. Breck joined Torelli for the 2020 season, wanting to race in Europe again. Unfortunately with Covid happening, she only got to race in Le Samyn, finishing 51st.
Elise Maes
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2020
Other Teams: Vitalogic Astrokalb (2016), WNT (2017-2018), Andy Schleck Cycles (2019)
Luxembourger Elise Maes joined Torelli for the 2020 season, racing for them over the winter cyclocross season too. She earned her first national results in 2014 and narrowly missed out on a double national victory in 2015, finishing 2nd twice. The 2016 season saw a solid 25th place overall at Emakumeen Bira as she started to piece together a role as a good domestique. Signed for WNT for 2017, she improved with 15th overall in the Emakumeen Bira and finished 2nd in both Luxembourg races again. Some regression in her 2018 season with WNT meant there wasn’t a big result to speak of.
She ended up heading back home and racing for the Andy Schleck Cycles team with Sandra Weiss. Here she was 18th at Elsy Jacobs and an impressive 11th at GP d’Isbergues. She unfortunately didn’t get the chance to race for Torelli during the Covid-affected 2020 season.
Anna Shackley
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2020
Other Teams: Great Britain (2019), SD Worx (2021)
Yet another young British rider with a strong track background, 2019 was her first full road season. She scored a top-10 in the Durham Tour Series race and finished the Tour of the Reservoir in 11th Overall. She really announced herself with 13th Overall at the Tour of Scotland as an 18-year-old against the elite European peloton. 3rd Overall in the young riders Watersley Ladies Challenge got other teams interested whilst racing for the GB team.
Shackley is another who didn’t get many opportunities in 2020 for Torelli. However, finishing as the highest-placed Brit in the World Championships with 25th also created some hype that Shackley was the next British starlet. It was no surprise when SD Worx confirmed they’d signed her for 2 seasons.
Amelia Sharpe
2020 Team: Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
Years on Torelli: 2020
Other Teams: Great Britain (2018-2019), NXTG Racing (2021)
Yet more young British talent, Amelia Sharpe raced for the GB team in 2018 and 2019. She impressed in 2018, finishing 18th overall at the Watersley Ladies Challenge, including 2nd on the final stage. Sharpe finished ahead of some talent that’s now in the WorldTour like Uneken, Backstedt and Georgi. She was solid at elite level in 2019, which included 51st in the Tour of Scotland on the same Scotland team as Anna Shackley. Her junior results showed she was still progressing well though, finishing 4th in the junior Alfredo Binda and 5th in Omloop van Borsele.
She left the GB team and joined Torelli for 2020 but only got to race the European U23 Championships on the road all season. She’d done enough though to generate interest and will be racing for the Dutch NXTG Racing team who develop young riders.
