Olympic cyclist Maria Martins became the first Portuguese woman to race in the WorldTour women’s peloton on Wednesday, after joining the Belgian team Fenix-Deceuninck, leaving behind three years in the British Le Col-Wahoo.
In a note posted on the social network Twitter, Fenix-Deceuninck, formerly Plantur-Pura, reports three signings, with Martins, 23, along with the Swiss Petra Stiasny and the Austrian Carina Schrempf.
Mentioned by the team, the Portuguese Olympian says she identifies “very much with the mentality and structure of this formation”, in which she will race alongside, among others, the Dutch cyclocross ‘star’ Ceylin Alvarado.
“I feel grateful to be part of this entity that supports my goals in road cycling, but also on the track. I feel ready and looking forward to starting this next chapter,” he acknowledged.
At 23 years old, ‘Tata’ Martins is one of the greatest figures in Portuguese cycling, having made his debut on his country’s track at the Olympic Games, with a seventh place in the omnium.
As a ‘pistard’, he has two bronze medals in elite World Cups, two third places in Euro Cups and a European under-23 title, among numerous podium finishes in the youth divisions.
On the road, she was national champion in 2021, the year in which she made her debut in Paris-Roubaix with a 19th place and was third in the Ronde de Mouscron, and in 2022 she lived a year with several highlights, from sixth place in bottom of Elite Europeans to fifth place in the classic Brugges-De Panne.
The change of team allows her to participate in the Tour of France, Italy and Spain and also to be the first woman in a formation of the WorldTour women’s ranking, the highest in the world, hand in hand with a Belgian team that ‘ascended’ to this level by 2023.
In the ranks of a structure oriented to the road, but also to cyclocross and the track, there are, in addition to Alvarado, names such as the ‘promising’ Belgian Julie de Wilde, the former cyclocross world champion Sanne Cant and the German Laura Süssemilch, team pursuit world champion in 2021.
Source: TSF
