The new Dutch superteam takes aim at London 2012
The Leontien.nl team is to expand in 2011 and rejoin with previous sponsor AA Drink, according to Wielerland.nl. The Dutch core of the distinctive pink and white team will stay together but will benefit from the addition of some high quality signings. The team’s primary objectives are to prepare as many riders as possible for the Olympic Games in London, and World Championships in Limburg, Netherlands in 2012.
The team was previously sponsored by AA Drink from 2005 but in 2009 the sports drink manufacturer chose to concentrate on men’s cyclocross, retaining just track sprinter Willy Kanis as the sole woman rider. The women’s road team became Leontien.nl, sponsored by the women’s lifestyle website of Dutch cycling legend Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel; the teams have maintained a connection since though, via team manager Michael Zijlaard.
The German Cycling Federation (BDR) already announced that Trixi Worrack and Marlen Johrend were to move over from Noris Cycling, but the team itself has now confirmed that it has signed top sprinter Kirsten Wild and World and Commonwealth time trial medallist Linda Villumsen.
Wild previously rode for the team between 2006 and 2008, before AA Drink split from the team to concentrate on men’s cyclocross. In 2009 she joined the Cervélo TestTeam, where she has become one of the top sprinters in the World; perhaps only second to Ina Teutenberg of HTC-Columbia. The Dutchwoman is rejoining her old team as it fits in with her personal ambitions for the next few years.
“I’m going focus on the track a lot more next winter,” Wild told Wielerland.nl. “I’m happy that I’ll get that freedom at AA Drink. The team has extensive experience in that arena because they have track riders like Danny Stam and Willy Kanis under contract. I am planning to focus the next period of my career on the Olympic team pursuit and omnium. In consultation with track coach Robert Slippens I will ride a number of World Cups, and of course I hope to ride the World Championships in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.”
Villumsen has ridden for HTC-Columbia for the past four seasons and is one of the World’s top all-round riders. She has taken the bronze medal in the World Championship time trial for two consecutive years, and recently took the silver medal in the Commonwealth games time trial. The 25-year-old is a multiple Danish champion, but at the beginning of this year elected to move her nationality and racing license to New Zealand.
With the new riders added to the existing strong team base, AA Drink-Leontien.nl should present a challenge to the dominance of the two existing superteams HTC-Highroad and Garmin-Cervélo.
AA Drink-Leontien.nl team 2011:
Chantal Blaak, Lucinda Brand, Irene Van den Broek, Josien Van Den Heerik-Wingerden, Marlen Johrend, Monique Van de Ree, Eline De Roover, Linda Villumsen, Heleen Van Vliet, Marijn de Vries, Kirsten Wild, Anne de Wildt, Trixi Worrack, Willy Kanis.