New Zealand’s Rylee McMullen and 18-year-old Canadian Anika Brants deliver high observe skills to a retooled roster for Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 in 2025. The incoming class additionally embrace a trio of US riders – Olivia Cummins, Anna Hicks and Bethany Ingram – who look to strengthen forces for a number of disciplines.
Half of the 10-rider roster options stable performers from VBR’s 2024 marketing campaign, led by Cuban all-rounder Marlies Mejías and Sofia Arreola of Mexico, each signed by 2028. Mejías, a two-time Pan-American champion, tallied all of the UCI podiums from final season, which features a stage win and second place on the Tour of the Gila and a runner-up spot at Tour de Gatineau. Arreola, a two-time Worlds silver medalist on the observe,
Emily Ehrlich, a two-time GC winner on the Valley of the Sun Stage Race, brings versatility and reliability to the squad for 2 extra seasons. Also returning are under-23 rising expertise Ella Sabo and Paralympic gold medalist Jamie Whitmore, all three from the US.
Notably absent from the roster are five-time Olympic observe biking medallist Jennifer Valente and Leadville Trail 100 MTB winner Melisa Rollins. Former US Pro street champion Emma Langley has retired from racing.
“While our workforce is basically centered on growing American athletes, bringing Rylee on board is a strategic addition as we develop our focus to incorporate extra observe biking,” stated Nicola Cranmer, founder and normal supervisor of Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24 Pro Cycling.
“Rylee brings useful worldwide expertise and a powerful work ethic that may assist elevate your complete workforce. She’s an important teammate with a implausible character and isn’t afraid to place within the laborious work required to succeed. Rylee will even work intently with the New Zealand National Team program, which aligns completely with our targets of supporting athletes on the highest stage.”
In the brand new 12 months, the workforce will race as Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28, the TWENTY24 Pro Cycling workforce confirming a continued partnership with Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge (VBR) for 2025, joined by the Virginia Tourism Corporation beneath the model, ‘Virginia is for Mountain Lovers’. Other main companions for 2025 embrace Berglund Automotive, Riverdale Roanoke, Zwift, Felt Bicycles and Cotton Sox (previously related to DNA Pro Cycling).
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The identify change from TWENTY24 to TWENTY28 is a nod to the event of expertise on the elite and junior ranges for the Olympic Games. It would be the twentieth season for Cranmer’s programme and a fifth Olympiad cycle, this time aiming for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The programme has seen riders earn 17 Olympic and Paralympic medals.
“Our partnership with Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and Virginia Tourism Corporation highlights the unimaginable native help that makes this area a vibrant hub for biking and out of doors recreation,” stated Cranmer. “The neighborhood’s dedication to investing in Virginia’s sporting id is instrumental in attracting world-class athletes and occasions, creating unforgettable experiences for each rivals and followers.”
New riders
Last 12 months, McMullen competed with DNA Pro Cycling, driving to second total and in dash factors within the American Criterium Cup collection, earned second on one stage at Vuelta a Colombia Femenina and took third within the Tulsa Tough omnium competitors. She additionally gained two US criteriums throughout Speed Week in Union City and College Park, each in Georgia.
On the observe, her accolades embrace a number of medals on the Oceania Championships and a gold medal within the Elimination Race on the 2023 Oceania Championships. She capped her 2024 season with a National Championship within the Points Race in New Zealand.
“This workforce has proven that they’re able to successful the largest races in North America, and I’m stoked to proceed to develop alongside such robust teammates,” commented McMullen. “With the workforce going into their twentieth 12 months, I do know I’m signing with the very best workforce in North America that has a stable basis and a confirmed observe report in growing world-class athletes. I’m blissful to be a part of a program that values a combined calendar throughout street and observe.”
Cranmer was keen about subsequent 12 months’s roster, which she stated displays a dynamic mixture of returning expertise and promising new riders for a schedule of US home and worldwide competitions to “acquire invaluable expertise and pursue excellence on the world stage”.
“At simply 18 years outdated, Anika is a observe specialist bringing powerhouse energy to our criterium squad. Anika is an outstanding expertise with unimaginable potential on each the observe and street. Her laborious work, dedication, and flexibility are precisely what we search for in our athletes.
“Olivia Cummins is a gifted all-rounder with a brilliant future in stage racing. Bethany Ingram is a promising athlete with immense potential, on an upward trajectory,” Cranmer acknowledged about different new riders who carry out effectively on the observe.
In truth, Ingram and Cummins teamed with Ehrlich and Colleen Gulich to win the Pan-American Track Cycling Championships gold medal within the girls’s Team Pursuit finals final April.
Hicks, a former US junior girls’s time trial nationwide champion, will get excessive marks from Cranmer as a “versatile growth rider” who gained on SBT GRVL’s blue course on the age of 24. Signed by 2026, she was one of many invited riders to compete within the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix, the place her finest end was on the Chequamegon MTB Festival in eighth place.
Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 roster 2025
- Sofia Arreola (MEX)
- Anika Brants (CAN)
- Olivia Cummins (USA)
- Emily Ehrlich (USA)
- Anna Hicks (USA)
- Bethany Ingram (USA)
- Rylee McMullen (NZL)
- Marlies Mejias (CUB)
- Ella Sabo (USA)
- Jamie Whitmore (USA)