UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team adds Canada’s Annie Ewart to the Blue Train for 2016

UnitedHealthcare has announced its women’s roster for 2016, following a successful debut season for the squad. The year’s competition has been marked by one win after another in varying, high-profile formats, ranging from criterium races across the United States to stage races to international events, including a strong performance at the UCI road world championships.

To the team’s principal, Mike Tamayaho, the secret to its success has been UnitedHealthcare’s mix of talented, diversely-skilled riders, who have worked together to forge an adaptable, dynamic cycling force

“When I look back at the season,” Tamayo said, “I see wins from many different riders, in many different types of races. As a director and general manager, a record like that shows depth, adaptability, and most of all, effective teamwork. That makes us at the United Healthcare Pro Cycling Team immensely proud of these riders and this program.”

As the 2016 season nears, the team is hoping to repeat that winning chemistry.

Of course, many of the elite riders who made UnitedHealthcare’s debut 2015 season so successful are returning. Those riders include team captain Lauren Tamayo, as well as track and road racer Cari Higgins. Following a season marked by one sprint win after another — which, notably, included a stage three win at the USA Pro Challenge — Coryn Rivera also returns to the team’s ranks next year. Katie Hall, meanwhile, whose breakout season saw her take second overall at the Gila, will also be returning.

As the team announced, a crop of fresh faces will also bulwark the team’s already impressive strength next season — a list that includes two-time Canadian national champion Annie Ewart, who makes the move to UnitedHealthcare from Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Stragtegies. Ewart is another rider whose 2015 season saw one mountain climbed after another, sometimes literally. Stage two at the Tour of the Gila features in her column of impressive 2015 wins, made all the more spectacular by having crashed earlier in that competition. Another win saw Ewart claim victory at the Dominguez Hills Criterium.

Joining UnitedHealthcare’s roster, she suggests, is something of a win in itself.

“I could not be happier to join the UnitedHealthcare pro cycling team for the 2016 season,” Ewart said, eager at the prospect of rolling out in the team’s colours. “I hope to contribute and build on the incredible success this team has had the last few seasons.” That, one key team official remarked, is the squad’s goal, too.

“After a strong showing in 2015,” said Rachel Heale, the team’s manager and sporting director, “we’re looking to continue the success and carry this momentum into 2016. We will increase our schedule in Europe for 2016, but with two Women’s World Tour races and several more UCI races in the U.S., we will be looking to perform well on home soil throughout the year.” Those two Women’s World Tour competitions — the Women’s Amgen Tour of California and the Philadelphia Cycling Classic — will offer yet another high-profile opportunity for the sophomore team — and for Ewart herself — to shine.

“Annie Ewart,” Heale added, “has proved her skill as a great domestique this year, and her stage win after crashing at Tour of the Gila showed frit and determination, proving she has what it takes to win.”

2016 UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Roster: Women
Abby Mickey
Annie Ewart
Cari Higgins
Coryn Rivera
Diana Carolina Peñuela
Hayley Simmonds
Iris Slappendel
Katie Hall
Laura Brown
Lauren Tamayo
Linda Villumsen
Rushlee Buchanan
Shawn Morelli