At just 19 years of age, American Skylar Schneider got the phone call that nearly all aspiring competitive road cyclists dream of - an offer to join what is arguably the biggest women's professional cycling team in the world - a spot on Boels Dolmans for the 2018 season.
Jumping at the new and exciting opportunity to live and race abroad in Europe came with a high price. It meant that she would have to part ways with her older sister, Samantha, who has been her role model, inspiration and teammate in cycling for nearly a decade.
The thought of breaking up the sister act was the only thing that stood between Skylar and her unsigned contract with the powerful Dutch team.
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Social media portrays some of how close the sisters are - Samantha's Twitter handle is @Schneidersister, and they have commonly been referred to as one entity - The Schneider Sisters - and are known for pairing up to trade off lead-outs and victories for one another in criteriums and flatter road races in the US.
"It's sad," Skylar told Cyclingnews. "That was one of the things I thought about the most before pulling the trigger with Boels. She's been really supportive. We're still best friends, and I think we both have long careers ahead of us."
Samantha, 27, has had a successful career on the professional racing circuit in the US and overseas with the national team. She has raced for teams Colavita and Tibco-SVB before spending the last three seasons with ISCorp, where the sisters were devoted to their cycling careers as teammates. On the UCI circuit, Samantha has won two stages of the Joe Martin Stage Race, has finished in the top 10 in one-day events and has always been a contender at the National Championships.
New team, new role, new guidance at Boels Dolmans
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/skylar-schneider-a-new-sisterhood-at-boels-dolmans
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