Who'd run a women's cycling team...?

So you buy your riders, get their bikes and kit sorted, perhaps even get some sort of bus and a support vehicle if you've been fortunate enough to end up with enough cash. Then you enter them into some races and they work hard, paying back your faith and support by riding themselves to the brink of exhaustion - and beyond it, when necessary - and, gradually, if you're lucky and can do your job as well as your riders strive towards doing theirs, perhaps you win a few races. Your team's profile increases, people notice you and, maybe, a bit more cash comes in, so you and your riders start to dream of developing the team further, making it even better...

...and then your main sponsor pulls out. Everything you have built up is gone, just like that, and you've got to tell those riders who have given you so much and lived and worked together that you can't pay them anymore and they've got to go looking for new teams.

It happens time and time again, especially right after the Olympics and almost always just when you think that - finally, after all these years - things might be beginning to look up for the criminally overlooked and underfunded sport. Sometimes, it must be impossible not to think how very easy it would be to give up.

Leontien van Moorsel and Michael Ziljaard have been doing all this for seventeen years. They'll be missed sorely, but they kept going far longer than most people would be able to survive without giving up.

Vaughters and Pooley on the Slipstream/AA Drink merger

Jonathan Vaughters: "I’m glad that we were able to keep the core of the team together."

Emma Pooley: "I'm very happy to be on the AA Drink-Leontien team, and also very very happy to be able to continue to ride Cervélo bikes."

Slipstream merges with AA Drink-Leontien nl.

It's been the subject of rumour for a day or two, but the news is now confirmed - the Slipstream Women's Team is to merge with AA Drink, the team that provided a new home for several riders when Garmin-Cervélo manager Jonathan Vaughters announced the loss of a sponsor last year. The team will be run by AA-Drinks and administered by Slipstream with all riders competing on Cervélo bikes.

Garmin was contractually obliged to continue paying the salaries of nine of its ex-riders, meaning that a merger was the obvious and most practical way ahead for all parties. With many teams hitting rough patches in 2011 the merger comes as extremely welcome news in the women's cycling world.

Vaughters said: "We are pleased to partner with AA Drink / Leontien.nl. Michael Zilaard has built a strong organization and we are excited to work with him to combine our strengths. The 2012 team looks strong and we believe it will be a great year ahead."

Emma Pooley

Press release here.

Team:

Elizabeth Armitstead (UK)
Chantal Blaak (NL)
Lucinda Brand (NL)
Jessie Daams (BEL)
Sharon Laws (UK)
Lucy Martin (UK)
Shelley Olds (USA)
Madelene Olsson (SWE)
Emma Pooley (UK)
Carla Ryan (AUS)
Isabelle Söderberg (SWE)
Marijn de Vries (NL)
Marieke van Wanroij (NL)
Kirsten Wild (NL)