Squad is increasingly focussed on team time trial
Six days after it was announced that she was leaving the Argos Shimano team mid-season, it has been confirmed today that Charlotte Becker has signed for the Wiggle Honda squad and will race there for the rest of the year.
“I must say that I’m really, really looking forward to starting with Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling into the second part of the season,” she said, announcing the move. “For me it is something like a restart this year and I’m happy to be part of the new team.
“I think it is a pretty strong, young team with a lot of big names and a huge potential for the Team Time Trial,” she continued, referring to the race where she became world champion last year with the Specialized lululemon squad. “I first rode against Giorgia Bronzini when we were juniors, and now we will ride together in a team the first time after 12 years, and that’s cool. I can`t wait to get racing again in this new kit and I hope my experience can be helpful to Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling.”
The thirty year old moved to Argos Shimano over the winter and has had a solid season thus far. She was second and eight places on stages of the Tour Languedoc Roussillon, ninth on a stage and fifteenth overall in the Energiewacht Tour, as well as placing fifteenth in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and sixteenth in the women’s Tour of Qatar.
However things were not quite clicking at her new team, with general manager Iwan Spekenbrink saying that the setup wasn’t working as well as had been hoped. “Charlotte and the team decided it would be best to part ways early because we have different styles of working,” he said. “On our team, we like to provide intensive guidance to our riders and work very closely as a team.
“Charlotte has a different, more individual approach, and we agreed that it would be good for her to find a team that’s a better fit for her style.”
Humphrey Cobbold, CEO of Wiggle Ltd, believes that the team he backs is the right environment for her. “Charlotte’s addition to the team, along with Linda Villumsen, should be seen as a further affirmation of the whole team’s commitment – riders and all sponsors alike – to the goal of the highest achievement in the sport of women’s pro cycling,” he said.
Becker’s past results include the 2010 edition of the GP Ciudad de Valladolid World Cup race in Spain, as well as that TTT gold medal.
She will join the squad this week for a team time trial training camp at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, southern England, this week for a team time trial training camp. Team manager Rochelle Gilmore is increasingly convinced that the team can perform well in races such as the team time trial world championships and the Open de Suede Vårgårda TTT.
“We didn’t start the season with huge aspirations for the team time trial but as the season has developed, so has our time trialling strength,” she explained. “With so many talented time trial & pursuit riders on the team, we felt it was necessary to hire a race car track for a week and put some effort into learning how to ride a team time trial.
“We certainly have the brute power, we just need the experience and that takes time and specific attention.”