Nadia Gontova has been steadily making waves in the women’s pro cycling community. In 2023, she had a breakout win at the Redlands Cycling Classic—and she levelled up with the overall win. She took second at the national crit championships, as well as 5th and 6th in the road race and time trial championships. It was then that the French Women’s ProTeam contacted her. Her current team, DNA Cycling, said they wouldn’t be going ahead next year, so she said it was a great option.
As far as her season, her early win in California was a great one for her.
Learning how to win the GC
“I am most proud of my GC win at Redlands. After last year, I knew I could get top results on climbs, but I didn’t quite have the skills to not lose time on technical stages and do well in TTs to get a GC result in 2023,” she said. “Redlands was a big goal for me this year because my stage 2 win in 2023 was a really crazy unexpected breakthrough result, and I wanted to defend the stage win for the queen stage and also go for the GC as a main goal for the year. It was one of my first races with DNA, and it was so special to have so much trust and support from my teammates. I think Redlands really set me and the rest of the squad up for some great results in the rest of the season.”
For 2024, she said her main goal is to learn and improve on my weaknesses.
“I will definitely focus on hilly European races and stage races since those are my strong suits. I am still relatively new to racing and I have made big improvements each season, but European racing is another big step up,” the 24-year-old cyclist, who lives in Vancouver, said. “Getting some results along the way would be great, but my main goal is finishing the season feeling more confident in the European peloton.”
Quick against the clock
Her time trial skills were on display, not just at the nationals this year. She also took second at the Chrono Féminin de Gatineau in September, behind 2022 world pursuit champion Franziska Brauße (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team).
She won’t be the only Canuck on Winspace either. Jenaya Francis and Kiara Lylyk will also be moving to the team.
“I don’t know Jenaya or Kiara well yet, but I’m really excited to have so many Canadians on the team,” she said. “We are all living in Girona next year, so it will be fun racing and training together.”
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