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UAE Team ADQ 2023 Roster Preview

2022 Season Summary

2022 was a decent season of two halves for UAE Team ADQ. Marta Bastianelli picked up the bulk of her victories early on and Mavi Garcia most of her good results later on in the year. For Bastianelli, she successfully managed to pick off many of the non-WWT early season sprinting opportunities like Vuelta CV Feminas and Omloop van het Hageland. She was a threat throughout the Spring but couldn’t quite reach the top step regarding Women’s WorldTour races. 2nd at the Tour de France Femmes and RideLondon Classique were very near misses. As Bastianelli took a deserved rest, Garcia fired into action in May and June. Winning her first-ever WWT race at the Vuelta a Burgos before becoming the double Spanish national champion. Garcia’s best race though was the Classic Lorient Agglomération which saw her attack and attack before winning a sprint-a-deux against Amber Kraak.

Behind the lead pair, Sofia Bertizzolo chipped in with a low-level win at Trofeo Oro in Euro before consistent performances that included 2nd at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and the opening stage of the Women’s Tour in Bury St Edmunds. She continues to be strong in the not-quite-a-sprinter role, picking up results in many different types of races. After the Italian, the likes of Maaike Boogaard picked up her first UCI win at Omloop van Borsele, and Alena Ivanchenko won her first .1 level race with the TT at the Bretagne Ladies Tour.

2022 World Ranking: 7th
2022 WorldTour Ranking: 8th

2023 Transfers In

  • Alena Amialiusik
  • Olivia Baril
  • Chiara Consonni
  • Eleonora Gasparrini
  • Mikayla Harvey
  • Lizzie Holden
  • Karolina Kumiega
  • Silvia Persico

2023 Transfers Out

  • Maaike Boogaard
  • Mavi Garcia
  • Maria Novolodskaya
  • Alessia Patuelli
  • Ursa Pintar
  • Sophie Wright
  • Linda Zanetti

Star Riders

Riders to Watch in 2023

Silvia Persico had always threatened to be good but seemed to have a massive shake-up of confidence last winter. Bronze in the CX World Champs seemed to spur on one of the best non-WWT seasons we’ve seen by a rider in recent years. Chiara Consonni continues to grow and looks set to slow straight into the Bastianelli role for years to come. Getting the monkey off her back with a 2nd WWT victory, 3 years after her first in 2019, can only help with her confidence going into the 2023 season. Marta Bastianelli retires after the Giro Donne this year but it will be interesting to see what the former World Champ can do in her final Classics season or if she pivots to assisting Consonni and Persico.

Sofia Bertizzolo is always a constant threat and being able to link up with other attacking riders like Olivia Baril, winner of GP Ciudad de Eibar in 2022, can only increase both of their chances. When it comes to climbing support for GC leader Persico, Erica Magnaldi is joined by Lizzie Holden this season. The Brit is also a decent threat in the hillier classics too. I would love to see a rejuvenated Mikayla Harvey in 2023. The Kiwi burst out of the blocks in 2020 before signing with Canyon SRAM where things didn’t really work out. A return to 2020 form would be fun to see.

Transfer Thoughts

UAE Team ADQ is all change in 2023 after absorbing most of the cream of the crop of the former Valcar team. The injection to the team of Silvia Persico, a top-10 rider in 2022 and Chiara Consonni, arguably in the top-5 sprinters in the peloton, will see the team score strong results. The team has lost Mavi Garcia to Liv Racing TeqFind in order to fit in the new talent which is probably the biggest misstep but it’s understandable the Spaniard wanted to be sure of major race leadership. Losing Maaike Boogaard, a long-time stalwart of the team going back to the BTC Ljubljana days could also come back to bite them.

The biggest difference I think comes in the support riders when you compare the 2022 roster and the 2023 one. The likes of Novolodskaya, Patuelli, Pintar, Wright and Zanetti are all good riders but it’s tough to argue for any of them over the newly incoming riders of Amialiusik, Baril, Gasparrini, Harvey, Holden and Kumiega. So whilst, Perisco swaps for Garcia and Consonni is a swap for the soon-to-be retiring Bastianelli, it’s the middle part of the team that’s been strengthened the most. Not only will the stars benefit from increased support and a stronger lead-out, but UAE Team ADQ now has the ability to win a host of other races that it would have struggled to before.

Chiara Consonni
Chiara Consonni

2023 Full Roster

  • Safia Al Sayegh
  • Alena Amialiusik
  • Olivia Baril
  • Marta Bastianelli
  • Sofia Bertizzolo
  • Eugenia Bujak
  • Chiara Consonni
  • Eleonora Gasparrini
  • Mikayla Harvey
  • Lizzie Holden
  • Alena Ivanchenko
  • Karolina Kumiega
  • Erica Magnaldi
  • Silvia Persico
  • Laura Tomasi
  • Anna Trevisi