Advertisement

Worst Enlists as ERA Circus’ First Female Member

Annemarie Worst, the young Dutch woman who rode away from superstar American Ellen Noble to take the U23 Women win at the 2017 World Championships in Bieles, just announced her partnership with ERA Circus for the upcoming season. Her contract will run through the 2020 Olympic Games, and as far as we can tell, is ERA Circus’ first female team member.

The talented 21-year-old, who raced for the Dutch team Mijn Bad Liv-Giant, had an amazing season both in mountain biking and cyclocross. Before her victory at Worlds, she took fourth place in the Dutch National Championships.

This season ERA Circus consisted of 50% Sweeck: Laurens, Diether, and Henry, and no women, so it’ll be interesting to see what the rest of their roster looks like for 2017/8.

Worst raced both mountain bike and cyclocross for Mijn Bad Liv-Giant, and according to a press release, ERA Circus will continue to support her in both disciplines.

Verschueren a Shoe-In for Pauwels Sauces-Vasgoedservice

Another big switch in the women’s ranks is Jolien Verschueren’s transition from Telenet Fidea to Pauwels Sauces-Vasgoedservice, on a contract that runs through the end of 2018, effective March 1.

Verschueren’s current team manager, Sven Nys, released her from her contract early. She raced to a fourth place finish at Belgian National Championships, and spent a large chunk of her season on top of C1 and C2 race podiums with the Telenet-Fidea team.

“In particular, the timing is important. This is the ideal time to leave last season behind me. It has certainly not been what I had expected, even though I felt that I had become stronger,” Verschueren said in a press release.

Nys also just recently granted Tom Meeusen’s request for release from his Telenet-Fidea contract, parting with kind words despite it being a surprise.

Verschueren is 17th in the UCI rankings, despite not having raced since the first week in February. Just a few short weeks ago she posted a grim photo of a season-ending knee wound and mentioned having a broken rib. We wish her a speedy recovery, and best of luck next season!