EF Pro Cycling announced on Thursday they will start a women’s team that will race as EF Education-Cannondale next season.
The press release was vague and did not mention how this would affect the current Women’s WorldTeam of Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson and junior time trial World Champion Zoe Bäckstedt , which recently lost long-time sponsors Tibco and Silicon Valley Bank due to "recent economic challenges and events" after the bank’s collapse earlier this year. The two companies had supported the women’s team, run by Linda Jackson, since 2008.
EF Education joined the team as a co-title sponsor in 2022 but Jackson owns and manages the squad. Calls to EF Pro Cycling gave no clarification, and Linda Jackson could not be reached for comment.
TIBCO, Silicon Valley Bank to end sponsorship of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB EF Education First to co-title sponsor TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank in 2022
Linda Jackson: Creating a pathway for Olympic dreams
It is so far unclear if EF Education-EasyPost will become the ninth WorldTeam to own a women’s equivalent, joining the ranks with Alpecin-Deceuninck/Fenix-Deceuninck, Cofidis, Movistar Team, Team DSM, Jayco-AlUla, Jumbo-Visma, Lidl-Trek and UAE Team Emirates/UAE Team ADQ.
They might be creating a lower-level outfit along the lines of Soudal-Quickstep, who have a women’s Continental counterpart in AG Insurance-Soudal-Quickstep.It’s not the former Slipstream outfit’s first foray into women’s cycling. Jonathan Vaughters and Slipstream picked up the Cervélo women’s team as part of an agreement with the bicycle sponsor in 2011. The women’s team came along with seven riders from […]
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