Young American talent Tayler Wiles had a strong 2012 season and secured a slot with the prestigious Specialized lululemon team as a result. The 23 year old regards the move as a huge opportunity for herself, and is determined to ride as well as possible and to learn as much as she can in the year ahead.
“I think I will do a great deal of learning and be a big team player,” the Salt Lake City rider told VeloNation in a video interview conducted at the recent team training camp in Portugal’s Algarve region.
After placing soccer from the ages of five to eighteen, she took up the sport after going to college and has given more and more of her time to cycling. She initially rode her bike with a friend and then got increasingly involved in competition, racing with the Peanut Butter Twenty12/Exergy Twenty12 team in 2011 and 2012.
Last year was an important season as regards her progression, with fourth in the time trial in the San Dimas stage race, fifth on the Gila Monster stage plus eight overall in the Tour of the Gila and sixth in the Amgen Tour of California time trial all attracting attention.
For a young rider, that run of results was important as it both showed her ability and also a consistency that should only become stronger as she ages. Her ride against some big guns – including the Specialized lululemon team – in May then put her even more on the radar.
“I did pretty well in the Exergy Tour,” she said, looking back at a performance that helped secure the Specialized lululemon deal. “It was kind of one of the first races I was given the ability to go out there and try. I got in a lot of breaks in that race, caused a lot of breaks – that was exciting.”
Wiles contacted Specialized lululemon team owner Kristy Scrymgeour around the beginning of August. The conversation helped to raise interest in the possibility of taking her on board. She had just finished second in the Tour de Nez, which helped, and after netting a solid fourteenth overall in the 2.1 Giro Toscana Femminile/Memorial Michela Fanini in early September, she went on to snag second and third on stages in the Tour Cycliste Féminin de l’Ardèche and finished third overall.
That sealed the deal, landing her a slot with the world champion TT squad. Now, having spent time with the team in Portugal in December, she is more than happy with how things turned out. “The team is incredible, the staff is incredible,” she said then. “It is crazy because I have been looking up to these girls since I started riding, and now I get to be team-mates with them. So it is a pretty incredible experience.”
Listing her biggest goal as qualifying for the world championships next autumn, Wiles also wants to perform well in the World Cup races, helping the team to succeed there.
She accepts that year one is mostly about learning and assisting the leaders, yet is also keen to seize any chances that come her way. “I think they will give me some opportunities to use my instincts and to race like they know I know how to,” she said, underlining an attacking nature. “So I think it will be perfect.”
Also see:
Feature: World TTT champions Specialized lululemon clock up pre-season kilometres in Portugal
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Video Interview: Ellen van Dijk on TTT worlds triumph, Specialized lululemon, 2013 goals and Vos’ character
Gillian Carleton Video Interview: Olympic medallist ready for pro debut with Specialized lululemon