Cylance Pro Cycling is the latest women's team to break into the top end of the international peloton, and director Manel Lacambra is hoping his roster's mix of experienced veterans and talented newcomers will ensure the long-term prospects for the American-based team.
Cylance started the season at the Santos Women's Tour in Australia, where sprinter Shelley Olds finished second overall. Cylance finished competing just on Friday in the Ladies Tour of Qatar, where Olds finished fifth on the final stage and 11th overall. As the eighth-raked UCI team in the world heading into Qatar, the team is looking to make a splash in the inaugural women's WorldTour.
Lacambra recently told Cyclingnews - at the team's training camp near the title sponsor's headquarters in Southern California - that his goals for a new women's team were a perfect match with team owner Omer Kem's, and their new relationship came together quickly.
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“I was looking to create a new project, and I heard that Omer was looking also to make a very good women's team,” Lacambra said. “One friend put me in contact with him, and after 10 minutes on the phone with him I think we said OK. We had the same thoughts for the future in women's cycling, and it's good when we can meet and create this project together. Then I went to his home, we had a talk and we said, 'OK, let's keep going. We will create this project together.' At that moment we had nothing, but everything came together well and finally we had this project.”
The team signed Lacambra and Olds on the same day, and then the team director went to work on putting together a roster that had an international flavour and an instant UCI ranking.
“When we started this project it was important since we were going into the new WorldTour of the women, so what we needed then is points,” Lacambra said. “You need good riders and also these good riders need to have UCI points to qualify as a top 10 team in the world.
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