The AA Drink-Leontien.nl team has completed its rider roster for 2011 as the sports drink company returns to the team it sponsored until the end of 2008. The team carries over the core of last year’s Leontien.nl team bolstered by a number of star riders.
The entirely Dutch 2010 team, sponsored by the women’s lifestyle website of cycling icon Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel sees the return of super-sprinter Kirsten Wild, who rode with the team between 2006 and 2008 before spending the last two years at the Cervélo TestTeam. The 28-year-old Dutchwoman has cited her new team’s willingness to allow her to turn much of her attention to the track in the build up to the London Olympics in 2012 as a big reason for returning.
Adding an international flavour to an otherwise entirely Dutch team are former-Danish New Zealander Linda Villumsen, and Germans Trixi Worrack and Marlen Johrend. Worlds time trial medallist Villumsen joins after four years at HTC-Columbia, while Worrack and Johrend had both spent their entire careers at the Noris Cycling team, previously Nürnberger Versicherung.
While much of the new blood into the team is foreign, one of the key objectives of the team is to prepare Dutch riders for London 2012. With the road race likely to end in a sprint Wild will likely be one of the favourites already, but the continuing development of riders like 21-year-old Chantal Blaak will be a priority.
AA Drink-Leontien.nl 2011 team:
Chantal Blaak, Lucinda Brand, Irene van den Broek, Marlen Johrend (Ger), Willy Kanis, Monique van Ree, Eline de Roover, Linda Villumsen (NZl), Heleen van Vliet, Marijn de Vries, Kirsten Wild, Anne de Wildt, Josien van Wingerden, Trixi Worrack (Ger)