This time one year ago Allison Mrugal rode the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico with the amateur-level Amy D. Foundation team and was happy with a pair of top 15s across the five-day UCI 2.2 stage race. Now the 27-year-old US rider is part of the Continental-level Sopela Women’s Team and set to make her WorldTour stage race debut in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, May 1-7.
It has been a whirlwind of change across a few months for Mrugal, who has only been racing on the road for two full years. She moved to Europe and signed with a Spanish club team to start 2023, Kiwi Átlantico-Louriña. In early April she moved up to the Sopela squad, based in the Spanish Basque Country, and then won her first European race on the third day of the Lea-Artibai Txallengea, held in Berriatúa. It also the team’s first victory of the year, and they named her to the Vuelta squad.
“This has definitely been the hardest thing that I have ever consciously done,” Mrugal told Cyclingnews about her leap of faith to move to Europe and find a home with a Continental team. “I am feeling super grateful, of course happy, and now excited for more racing.”
Mrugal’s story is a bit fairytale so far, as small-town girl worked her way into the spotlight, beginning in the rolling countryside of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mrugal’s parents are avid cyclists, and she got hooked on mountain biking as a senior in high school. She then raced off-road for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, winning a silver medal at US Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in 2018.
The experience ignited her passion to keep racing, so she accepted a scholarship to race as a graduate student for Savannah College of Art & Design, Atlanta ”to feed my cycling addiction.
“They had a large and talented road program, too, so when we gained a new coach in the legendary road racer and criterium queen, Tina Pic, I subconsciously became a roadie,” she said, riding the past two years with Classic Cycling, Cardinal Classic Cycling and at Gila with Amy D. Foundation.
Her moves off the bike, which she called “serendipitous”, gained momentum after last year’s Gila to try racing in Europe and find bigger opportunities.
“This year’s success was built on last year’s foundation which included racing many of the major races in the US, a few kermesses in Belgium, and the Ras na mBan in Ireland with Cardinal Classic Cycling. With Amy D, I gained a lot of confidence because I really enjoyed…
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