Laura Stigger surprised the biking world when she gained the junior ladies’s highway race world title on dwelling soil in Innsbruck, Australia in 2018. Six years later, she has constructed a profitable profession in skilled mountain biking however she is able to return to highway racing having signed a brand new take care of one of many largest groups on this planet, SD Worx-Protime, for the 2025 season.
“It was tremendous particular to instantly take the world title in my very own area at my first actual introduction to the highway. I’m now curious to see what I’m price within the elite class on the highway,” Stigger stated in a workforce press launch.
“It is good that I can uncover that whereas I can nonetheless proceed my mountain bike profession with the Specialised Manufacturing facility Racing Staff.”
Stigger had a profitable multi-discipline junior profession the place she additionally gained two world titles in cross-country mountain biking and a gold medal on the European Championships in 2017 and 2018. She went on to win three under-23 mountain bike World Cups and the collection rating in 2019.
Since transferring as much as the elite ranks in 2020, though she was nonetheless beneath 23, she has secured a number of victories and podium finishes within the World Cup collection in cross-country and brief monitor racing.
Stigger, 24, at the moment races with Specialised Manufacturing facility Racing, and she is going to proceed competing in cross-country mountain biking. She may also race choose highway races together with the Ardennes Classics, with SD Worx-Protime, additionally sponsored by Specialised.
Laura Stigger wins junior ladies’s highway race world title at 2018 Innsbruck World Championships (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
“Laura will mix mountain biking with highway biking. We’re happy that she is going to do that with us. With Laura, we’ve one other good reinforcement for climbing. She’s going to do effectively in Ardennes work. Final 12 months she attended a coaching camp with our workforce and it went very effectively. That is why we took the choice to provide her the possibility to get a style of the actual factor on the highway,” stated workforce supervisor Danny Stam.
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“The combos of various disciplines is increasingly more a development. Mountain biking and highway biking are fairly complementary. Mountain bikers are normally fairly sturdy within the mountains and might launch their energy effectively there.”
Stigger believes that her strengths are in punchier highway races however that she must construct her expertise. She stated that coaching on dwelling roads in Innsbruck meant that she was well-suited to climbing in that space, which was why she positioned a deal with the highway Worlds six years in the past.
“That succeeded and I additionally ended up profitable the world title in my dwelling metropolis. Completely surprising. A beautiful reminiscence,” Stigger stated.
She stated she subsequently met Anna van der Breggen, who had gained the elite ladies’s highway race in Innsbruck that 12 months, at an altitude camp after which spent a while coaching collectively. She stated Van der Breggen, who will come out of retirement and race with SD Worx-Protime in 2025, inspired her to compete on the highway.
“The truth that it has lastly occurred a number of years [later] is gorgeous and thrilling on the similar time. I stay up for now driving alongside her in the identical workforce,” Stigger stated.
“I believe my steering abilities from mountain biking will turn out to be useful. I hope to make necessary strides in each highway biking and mountain biking by combining each disciplines.”
