With Bäckstedt, Brand, and a new sponsor, there’s life after Niewiadoma at Canyon//SRAM

CANYON//SRAM has deep roots in women’s cycling. The foundation was laid as early as 2002 with the T-Mobile women’s team.

That’s how the team as we know it was born. In 2017, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot joined, and a year later so did Niewiadoma.

Among her victories were the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne, and, of course, the 2024 Tour de France Femmes. After nine years of loyal service, her departure to Lidl-Trek will be a loss.

But CANYON//SRAM isn’t sitting still. No fewer than seven new riders have been announced, and many of them have one thing in common: Brand and Van Anrooij, as well as Steffi Häberlin, Jasmin Liechti, Victoire Berteau, and Georgia Baker, are all multidisciplinary riders.

Whether it’s cyclocross, mountain biking, or track cycling, there’s a place for it at CANYON//SRAM.

For Brand, it was, of course, a welcome bonus. At Lidl-Trek, she had to make a choice: either stay, or opt for Baloise - Het Poetsbureau Lions and leave.

Still, there has been a major shift. This may have a lot to do with the new UCI points rules. The International Cycling Union announced that points earned in other disciplines will now also count toward the road rankings.

It should be noted, however, that the points earned by Brand and Van Anrooij will not count toward the German team’s total. They are not racing for Canyon, but for Baloise - Het Poetsbureau Lions. Furthermore, only the points earned by the riders who are among the team’s top eight are counted.

There will also be changes on the road. That’s inevitable, given Niewiadoma’s departure. You can invest as much as you want in the other disciplines, but without the top points scorer, things will have to be done differently on skinny tyres. But they’ve already anticipated that—and not just this year. There are already plenty of top talents ready to take over.

Bäckstedt was mentioned briefly earlier, but the British rider, who just turned 22, won’t be content to compete at the highest level only in cyclocross.

This will allow her to effectively fill the void left by Niewiadoma. In the Grand Tours, however, all eyes are on Antonia Niedermaier, who is one year older. Everyone knew she had talent. But the German put on a sensational performance in the mountains.

These are the riders who will carry the team into the coming year, alongside the new signings. But CANYON//SRAM can continue to build momentum.

This week, Scalable Capital was announced as the new title sponsor, meaning the team will officially be known as CANYON//SRAM Scalable Capital. The German investment platform brings in some extra revenue.