Lorena Wiebes ends Team DSM contract early to join SD Worx on three-year deal
With 17 wins thus far, Dutchwoman has been the fastest sprinter in the peloton this year.
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Signed to Team DSM until 2024 but able to exit under a clause in her contract, Lorena Wiebes is switching across to Team SD Worx and will compete there through 2025.
The Dutchwoman has been one of the major success stories of this season, taking 17 victories including two stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Still only 23 years of age, she has a superb turn of speed and looks destined for major successes in the years to come.
“For years I have dreamed of being part of the world’s best UCI women’s team with several world-class riders who I can pull myself up by,” she said in the contract announcement on Wednesday. “In principle I would have liked to stay with my current team but I got an offer from Team SD Worx with a lot of opportunities.
“I look back with pride on an instructive and very successful time with Team DSM. I will try to make it a successful remaining term of this season.”
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Team SD Worx stated in Wednesday’s announcement that a clause in her contract meant that Wiebes “could leave earlier if she received an improved offer from another team.” It added that the two teams “reached an agreement on the transfer after joint consultation.”
Team SD Worx sports manager Danny Stam was glowing in his praise for the young rider.
“Lorena is a pure sprint star, he said.” When it comes to pure speed, she is by far the best.
“The large number of victories this season says something about her qualities. Although we mainly focus on the tougher races and as a team like to make the race, it is also nice when you have a big chance in the sprint. With Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes we have three world-class riders for the coming years who each excel in their own field.”
Team manager Erwin Janssen said that with a key goal for the team being to hold its number one slot in the UCI rankings, it was important to fill a gap in the strengths of the squad. He indicated that Wiebes does that.
“In the flat sprints our current team lacks speed. We want to compete for victory in all areas,” he explained. “We now have three world-class riders complemented by experienced riders and some of the biggest talents in the peloton. Financially, the three top riders are on the same level in our team. [Demi] Vollering, [Lotte] Kopecky and Wiebes have all consciously chosen the sporting line we have set out with our team.”
Like Wiebes, Vollering was one of the stars of the Tour de France Femmes. She finished second in the two mountain stages at the end of the race and ended it second overall. She also won the Queen of the Mountains classification, and took all three stages plus the overall classification in the Itzulia Women in May.
Kopecky won the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Strade Bianche Donne this year.
Stam explained how the three will sync together to help the team have greater depth across all terrain.
“With Wiebes we go for the real bunch sprints, while Kopecky is played off in the somewhat tougher races,” he said. “I also see in Wiebes the talent to develop further. The strength of our team has always been that we have several top riders at the start. In addition, there are more and more races on the calendar in women’s cycling. That also means that we will be riding a double program more often and will have to invest in that.”