2024 Edition
The history
This squad is a unique case in the world of cycling. The Australian women's team is not an offshoot of an existing men's structure but was created jointly with a men's team, resulting in a two-party organisation financed by the businessman Gerry Ryan and quickly reinforced by the sponsorship of Orica, a chemical group. Led by the world time trial champion Judith Arndt, it finished third in the world in its first season (2012) and then ran the table the following season, with first place in the team and individual rankings, via Sweden's Emma Johansson.
In 2017 and 2018, Annemiek van Vleuten finished two seasons as world number one. During her six seasons with the team (2016 through 2020), the Dutch rider won three world titles, two Giros d'Italia, Olympic gold and two editions of La Course by le Tour de France, where she dominated both the Izoard stage and the Marseille time trial in the only two-stage race (2017). She defeated Anna van der Breggen on Le Grand-Bornand after a fantastic duel on both sides of the Col de la Colombière (2018).
Van Vleuten left the team for Movistar in 2021, symbolising a squad that has undergone significant changes over the last few seasons. It now relies on the Australian champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon (a stage winner in the recent Tour of Britain), the Spaniard Mavi García (tenth in the 2022 Tour), the Italian Letizia Paternoster (ninth in the Tour of Flanders), and Ella Wyllie (sixteenth in the last Tour), a budding talent from New Zealand.
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KEY FIGURES
3. Ingvild Gåskjenn came in third in the Amstel Gold Race Ladies and became the first Scandinavian rider to finish on the podium of the Dutch classic.
11. Ella Wyllie's position at the top of the Tourmalet in last year's Tour. The Kiwi, now 21, is one of the hot favourites for the white jersey. In 2023, she finished second in this classification, behind Cédrine Kerbaol, who has since aged out of the competition.
40. The Spaniard Mavi García is the only 40-year-old in the WorldTour peloton, but top-notch performances such as third in the UAE Tour and her victory in the Vuelta a Andalucía on 1 June prove that age is just a number.