Carmen Small has left Jumbo-Visma and will join the newly established US-registered Continental team EF Education-Cannondale as lead sports director in 2024.
In a team press release, Small said that she looks forward to being part of an American team and working alongside the team’s general manager, Esra Tromp.
“I think I’ve found a good home. It’s an American team, and I’m an American. Even though the team is European-based and we have a strong, international roster, this is super nice for me because I’ve only ever been on foreign teams. It’s really nice to think about going to US nationals. I’ve never gotten to do nationals as a director, so I’m super excited about that,” Small said.
“Working with Esra, I’ve only had positive experiences. I believe in her. She’s an incredible manager. She really knows how to bring out the best in people and how to foster the goodness in a team. Getting to work with Esra was number one.”
Small retired from professional racing in 2017 with a long list of achievements that include winning the time trial title twice at the US National Championships, the time trial title at the Pan American Championships, and the bronze medal in the time trial at the World Championships.
She was also part of the Specialized-lululemon teams that won the world titles in the team time trial at the World Championships in 2013 and 2014.
Following her cycling career, Small became a sports director for teams Virtu Cycling and Ceratizit-WNT before joining Jumbo-Visma as a director in 2021, where she spent three seasons working with Tromp.
“When Esra approached me about this team, it was super interesting because it’s a first-year program. I had experience with Team Virtu to build that team up, so I’m not new to the game of new teams, but this was nice because while, of course, EF Education-Cannondale has the infrastructure set up from the men’s side, it’s a blank slate,” Small said.
“That gives you the opportunity to build and create something new and see what you can develop out of it. That was interesting to me.”
EF Pro Cycling announced in June that they will start a new women’s team, racing as EF Education-Cannondale and that it will begin as a Continental women’s team in 2024.
Since that announcement, the team has signed 14 riders: Megan Armitage, Letizia Borghesi, Kim Cadzow, Clara Emond, Veronica Ewers, Kristen Faulkner, Lotta Henttala, Alison Jackson, Nina Kessler, Clara Koppenburg, Coryn Labecki, Noemi…
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