Paris-Roubaix Femmes runner-up Katia Ragusa leads a trio of tough riders becoming a member of the Human Powered Well being ladies’s squad for 2024. Fellow Italian Silvia Zanardi and younger Swiss climber Linda Zanetti additionally transfer for one-year contracts.
Ragusa made a remark final 12 months together with her transfer in a 114km day-long breakaway at Paris-Roubaix to complete at the podium for Liv Racing TeqFind. The 26-year-old Italian has all-round abilities with 8 years of enjoy, having taken best 10 effects at Branbantse Pijl, Giro dell’Emilia and Ladies’s Excursion Down Below.
“I truly just like the Spring Classics and I’ve eyes on them. I’m an staying power rider. I do my very best on the finish of the ones classics and hilly races when the race is tougher,” she stated, the workforce excited by the use of her talents to place two if their leaders, French Champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot and previous US nationwide champion Ruth Edwards.
Zanardi brings a quick end to her first season at the WorldTour, having received the Eu monitor identify within the Madison in 2022 and brought the dash classification at seven-stage Cycliste Féminin World de l’Ardèche this season. In 5 seasons with Bepink, she additionally has two degree wins and 4 podiums on the l’Ardèche race, a degree win at Excursion Féminin des Pyrénées and GP della Liberazionne.
She proved bold on degree 4 at Excursion Feminin l’Ardeche with the victory from a breakaway effort, which put her within the GC lead for in the future.
The youngest of the trio is Zanetti at simply 21, and as a climber she has confirmed she will transition from mountain cycling to street racing. In simply her 2nd professional season in 2023, she received 5 races with the UAE Building Workforce, together with Omloop van Borsele, a degree at Excursion de l’Avenir and the Swiss U23 ladies’s street identify.
Kenny Latomme, efficiency director for Human Powered Well being, known as her “a diamond within the making“.
“She is a winner who does smartly on many sorts of parcours, so it’s a 12 months the place we will be able to discover the whole lot together with her and to find her very best qualities. It’s a construction that I imagine might cross rapid,” Latomme stated about Zanetti.
“Silvia isn’t a natural sprinter, however a quick finisher after a hard race. She is at all times racing for best tens and I’m excited to peer how she adapts to the WorldTour.
“[Ragusa] will probably be necessary to carry the climbers into place right through degree races. If a rider can do smartly in cobblestone classics, then they’re a fighter who can carry your chief into place in a GC combat.”
The 3 signings brings the roster to 9 riders, to this point, for Human Powered Well being, which final 12 months had 16 riders who helped the ladies’s squad end 14th within the UCI International ratings.