Blanka Vas and Anna Shackley have extended their contracts at Team SD Worx through 2024. They are two of the biggest talents in women’s cycling and they plan to continue to develop and hone in on their specific targets during the next two seasons.
Vas signed with the team as a trainee in August of 2021 and raced her first full season on the Women’s WorldTour this year. She has won back-to-back national road and time trial titles along with fourth place at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships and fourth in the cross-country mountain bike event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
A multi-discipline rider, Vas is currently competing in the cyclo-cross season and will transition back to road races and mountain biking in the spring.
“It may not have been immediately obvious to the general public, but Blanka Vas showed once again some strong performances for her age during the last road season,” said sports manager Danny Stam.
“In 2021, she achieved unexpectedly great results. This year she continued to develop and rode a full road season for the first time. We have seen that she has become a lot stronger. Especially in the tougher one-day races, she impressed.
“Blanka is a rider who can do anything and wants it all. The future will show what she can best specialise in.”
Vas has pointed to the one-day races and hilly Classics as an area of the sport that suits her best, but she hopes to excel in the cobbled classics in future. Next year, Vas will split her time between road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking with an aim to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“I didn’t have to think long when I was able to extend my contract. Within the team, I can continue to do the combination of road, cyclo-cross and mountain bike. Thus, next year I will ride a few more mountain bike races with a view to qualifying for the Paris Olympics in 2024,” she said.
“This season I rode a fairly full road programme for the first time. I learned a huge amount. Being in the best team in the world with Danny Stam, Anna van der Breggen and Lars Boom as sports directors and having experienced top riders like Chantal Blaak and Demi Vollering next to you is a big advantage. I have not yet decided where my biggest opportunities on the road actually lie. Although I do have a preference for the one-day races. I like the hill classics but hope to get to know the cobbled classics in the future. Apart from the sporting part, I also like the atmosphere of the team. I really feel at home here…
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