Kaitlin Antonneau, seen here at 2009 Nats, announces a new team for 2010. © Janet Hill
As our readers already know, Cyclocross Magazine broke the story of Kaitlin Antonneau’s transfer in our latest issue. She just unleashed an impressive debut race at Day 2 of the Planet Bike USGP, the day after claiming two Collegiate National Track Championships! Make sure to follow the latest both in print and online to keep up to date with everything cyclocross.
Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com is proud to announce the addition of Kaitlin Antonneau, the prodigious cyclocross talent from Racine, Wisconsin, to the team for the 2010-2011 season. Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com took notice of Antonneau during a breakout 2009 season and extended an invitation to join a team where she could develop into a top-level cyclocross talent. Antonneau will be afforded the full support of the Cannondale prepared by Cyclcrossworld.com family, and will be given the chance to grow and flourish under the guidance of some of America’s most accomplished cyclocross racers, while majoring in biology at Marian University. Antonneau will first don the colors that have adorned national cyclocross champion Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll for the past three years in Madison, Wisconsin, for the opener of the 2010 US Gran Prix of Cyclocross this weekend.
As a Junior, Antonneau has achieved results that few could have dreamed of over a career. In the past year alone, Antonneau finished eighth in the Junior Women’s World Championship Road Race and helped her teammate onto the podium in the process. Antonneau also earned herself a silver medal in Elite Junior women’s cyclocross national championships in December and another at the Junior women’s road race at the United States National Championships in June. Antonneau confirmed her all-around abilities by adding two fifth place finishes in the criterium and the time trial at the same event.
Antonneau had a breakout 2009 season, turning many heads from the beginning of the season until the end. Antonneau’s progression was constant, and by the end of the season Antonneau was a routine podium threat. Antonneau rode onto two podiums at the Jingle Cross Rock weekend in Iowa City, finishing second on both occasions to Elite Women’s National Championships silver medalist Meredith Miller. Antonneau was never outside the top fifteen in a US Gran Prix of Cyclocross event in the 2009 season, showing determination and consistency well beyond her years. Despite already having a medal in the bag, Antonneau took on the Elite Women’s event at the National Cyclocross Championships two days after her Junior success and rode her way to a twelfth place finish.
While Antonneau’s talent is unquestioned, she has plenty of room to grow and excel in a time when women’s cyclocross is experiencing an unprecedented level of growth and interest. Nowhere in the United States will she benefit from better guidance and support than with Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com. In Tim Johnson, Antonneau can expect to take home some of the wisdom that more than a decade at US Cyclocross’ highest level has taught him. Jamey Driscoll can help Antonneau navigate the oft-difficult jump from the youth ranks to the Elite level, and Jeremy Powers can teach Antonneau how to translate early season success into a season of triumph. Stu Thorne and the rest of the Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com support staff can help to make sure that Antonneau need only worry about her own performances, and that she will have the best support a rider can have this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
While the scheduling details of Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com’s newest recruit are still being finalized, one important date has been set in Antonneau’s debut season: she will get a dream unveiling at the Planet Bike Cup, just up the road from her childhood home. If donning the Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com colors were not enough to motivate Antonneau, the voice of hundreds of local supporters should light a fire under the young woman from Racine. After that, Antonneau will make her New England debut at the Gran Prix of Gloucester, and possibly the most passionate of Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com’s fan base will get a chance to embrace their new leading lady.
