Neo-pros to watch out for in 2024: Holmgren sisters, Czapla & Co. storm the Women's World Tour
Sebastian Lindner
· 08.02.2024
The Women's World Tour is becoming more professional with each new season. However, there is a gap behind the highest racing series in women's cycling, both in terms of organisation and performance. It therefore fits into the picture that many young and talented women switch directly from the youth sector to the WWT and skip the U23 class in a continental team. They have often enjoyed interdisciplinary training and come to the road with great successes on the track, mountain bike or cross.
There are greater opportunities for the development of young women, particularly in the cross-country sector. This is because every elite men's World Cup has not only been linked to equally ranked women's races for years, but also to U23 and junior races. Although - compared to the other cycling disciplines - most of the money is spent on the road, the juniors in particular have been criminally neglected. As a result, the neo-pros who will switch to the WWT in 2024 still have little experience in a large peloton.
Lauren Molengraaf (FDJ-Suez)
She already has a string of World Cup victories as well as World and European Championship medals in cross-country for juniors, and she is also the Dutch champion on the mountain bike. And now Lauren Molengraaf also wants to conquer the road. Seventh place at the European Championships in her home country last year was a first step. She will be riding for FDJ-Suez in the 2024 season.
However, this is not the only professional contract that the 18-year-old has signed. She has also signed with Intermarche-Wanty and Tormans, the Belgian cross team. She has also signed with Lapierre-Mavic Unity, an MTB team. The three teams have brought about this special situation so that Molengraaf can continue to develop in all three specialisms. "The three teams have the same vision for my future, which is why I decided to embark on this special adventure with three high-calibre teams," said Molengraaf in a press release. "In each discipline, I get the opportunity to develop at my own pace in a professional environment."
Tom Pidcock in men's cycling and Puck Pieterse in women's cycling, who is also currently undergoing a three-track development, show that it is possible to be successful at the highest level across disciplines. Lauren Molengraaf, who is regarded as one of the greatest cycling talents of her generation, could write the next success story at elite level.
Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek)
This story - it sounds almost too strange to be true. During the coronavirus pandemic, hockey player Felicity Wilson-Haffenden jumps on a bike to escape boredom, as she can no longer pursue her actual sport. In 2022, she competes in the Australian Junior Championships, more or less out of the cold. She finished fourth in the time trial at her first attempt, stayed on and came back a year later. This time she wins the title, also on the road. Double gold gives her additional motivation. And seven months later, Wilson-Haffenden is world champion.
Afterwards, she felt "like a child in a sweet shop", said the 18-year-old at the beginning of the year in an interview with cyclingnews.com. Professional teams showed interest, but the fact that she ultimately signed with Lidl-Trek for three years is due to the good contacts of ex-pro Richie Porte, who, like Wilson-Haffenden, comes from Tasmania, and the strong Australian faction in the women's team.
Her first outing in the new team colours was the country's U23 time trial championships, where she finished second. She went on to the Tour Down Under, her first race in a large professional peloton. The results show that Felicity Wilson-Haffenden is still finding her feet in a situation that is new to her. She finished second last in the overall standings. But as soon as she has acclimatised, she should be able to do better in the road races. In the time trial anyway.
Justyna Czapla (Canyon//SRAM)
Justyna Czapla has also turned out to be a successful junior. Having turned 20 in January, the Bavarian from Schwabach near Nuremberg collected 2022 medals. On the track, she took bronze at the World Championships in the team pursuit, on the road she became European champion and Vice world champion. After her junior days, Czapla signed a contract with Canyon//SRAM Generation in 2023, the development team of the WWT squad - for which she will ride in the 2024 to 2026 seasons.
One year in the U23s was apparently enough for team manager Ronny Lauke to promote the talent. "I can't even describe how happy I am. It's one of my biggest dreams," said Czapla in a team statement. An 8th place in the Spanish 1.1 race reVolta was her best result alongside 6th place overall in the Princess Anna Vasa Tour (2.2) through Poland. In addition to her strength in the fight against the clock, she can also enjoy a bit of an uphill finish.
Switching to the longer distances - 80 kilometres is the norm for juniors, and sometimes 130 kilometres or more for women - was a little difficult for her at first, but is no longer a problem. At the Omloop van het Hageland on 25 February, she will be able to prove this for the first time as a professional athlete. The spring classic is 129 kilometres long.
Isabella and Ava Holmgreen (Lidl-Trek)
In addition to Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, Lidl-Trek has turned two more 18-year-olds into neo-pros. The US-licensed team has also secured the services of twin sisters Isabella and Ava Holmgren from Canada. The Holmgrens have already written themselves into their country's history books. They won gold and silver at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships in Hoogerheide. Until then, Canada had never won a gold medal in any age group.
While Isabella was also crowned mountain bike world champion in her age group in Glasgow in 2023, Ava became Pan-American junior champion. In 2024, the duo now want to develop further on the road. Isabella showed that she can go a long way in Glasgow when she finished the road race in eighth place.
Apart from that, both have little experience on tarmac, almost none at all outside of the juniors. The winter was still characterised by cross-country races, Isabella recently finished fourth in the U23 category at the World Championships in Tabor, Ava 13th. "Being part of a World Tour team was a long-term goal of mine. So it was a bit of a shock for me to get this great opportunity as a junior," said Isabella Holmgren on signing her two-year contract. It could become even bigger if the usual success doesn't materialise at first and completely different racing situations arise in a large field. But the Holmgren sisters will come to terms with this and will be a force to be reckoned with in the medium term.
Cat Ferguson (Movistar)
Cat Ferguson is currently the brightest star in the cycling talent firmament. She is just 17 years old and comes from Great Britain. If she didn't still have to finish her schooling, she would already be under contract as a neo-pro with Movistar this year. However, she will be a stagiaire with the Spanish WWT team from August and will then officially be given a contract until the end of 2027 from 2025.
Everything is already planned. And yet everything is somehow surprising. In an interview with Cycling Weekly Ferguson said that he had not expected this development at all. And yet it was unavoidable given her tremendous success. In her first junior year, she won the junior edition of the Tour of Flanders, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, took second place at Gent-Wevelgem and won the British Time Trial Championships. At the World Championships in Glasgow, she took silver in the road race. She finished 19 of the 20 race days in the top 10.
On the road. She also has a similar record in cross-country. She only failed to finish on the podium at three World Cups. She finished the World Championships in Tabor in second place in her age group with the same result as the elite mixed relay team. At Movistar, she can continue to indulge in her two passions in peace and quiet - one of the most important arguments in her favour in Spain.
