Human Powered Health

Daria Pikulik

Audrey Cordon-Ragot

Linda Zanetti

Yuliia Biriukova

Ruth Edwards

Lily Williams

Barbara Malcotti

Romy Kasper

Silvia Zanardi

Marit Raaijmakers

Henrietta Christie

Katia Ragusa

Maëlle Grossetête

Wiktoria Pikulik

Krista Doebel-Hickok

Alice Wood

Racing

News

Race News

Ruth Edwards extends contract with Human Powered Health until 2026

 (née Winder) has signed a contract extension with 

 that will see her race for the American Women’s WorldTour outfit until the end of 2026.

, Brabantse Pijl and a stage of the Giro Donne, Edwards stepped away from professional road racing at the end of 2021 to take what at the time was seen as a retirement, but was in fact more of a hiatus, as she 

Initially only on a one-year contract after her time away from racing on the road, the team confirmed on Thursday that the 30-year-old American will continue in the WorldTour until the end of 2026.

“I wasn’t sure when I returned if it would be for a year or longer,” she said in a press release issued by the team.

“The fact that despite the rough spring I’ve had so far I want to keep racing is just a true showing of how much I’m enjoying being part of this team and excited to grow with them and help them grow however I can.”

Sky's the limit: Ruth Edwards on burn-out and her passion for racing

Making her return to racing at the Tour Down Under in January, she picked up a top-10 on a stage there, before finishing fourth in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. She took her first European podium at the Trofeo Oro in March, but had mixed results in the Classics, crashing out of Dwars door Vlaanderen and not finishing Amstel Gold Race. She will line up again for 

However, the stage racing of the summer will suit Edwards better. She will lead Human Powered Health at the upcoming Vuelta Femenina and told 

earlier this year that she intends to race all three Grand Tours, continuing on to the Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

“My objectives as a rider are to continue to push myself to be my best athlete and with that, I hope I can get strong results among the best,” she said of her goals for the rest of her contract.

For Human Powered Health, who are looking to gradually step up the WorldTour ladder, securing the future of a proven rider like Edwards is a boost. They have also extended the contracts of Lilly Williams and Daria and Wiktoria Pikulik in recent weeks.

Climbing the ladder: How Human Powered Health are elevating their women’s team

“We are very happy with these contract renewals through 2026, as they fit perfectly in our strategy of building a top-tier women’s team over the next few years,” said team manager Ro De Jonckere. 

“Since last summer, we have put a lot of effort into improving our structure and the further professionalisation of our team. It is nice to see how this has not missed its effect and the riders feel confident that our team is the right environment for them to reach their full potential.”

“When I remember my reasons for returning to the sport, I know now that Human Powered Health was the perfect fit,” Edwards said of the team she will call home for the next two and a half seasons. “For the love of the chase, to see how good we can be, to support each other not just as athletes, staff, and sportspeople, but also as humans.”

For more of the latest from the professional peloton, visit our 

Tech

Features

Tech Features

Paris-Roubaix Femmes tech: How did teams set up their bikes for a day in hell?

, or the 'Hell of the North' as it is also known, is renowned for being a hotbed of technological experimentation. The unique and testing demands that the mix of tarmac and pavé put on bikes and riders opens the door for equipment choices that you won’t see anywhere else on the road calendar.

2024's edition of the women's race proved to be no different. While there were no gravel bikes on show, 

unlike in the men's race were Israel-Premier Tech will use the Factor Ostro Gravel

, there were plenty of interesting tech choices, including a general trend towards larger tyres in excess of 32mm.

Here are all of the interesting trends and set-up choices we spotted at the race.

Should the pros use suspension at Paris-Roubaix?

In the weeks leading up to Roubaix, there was little in the way of discussion around the tyres that riders would use for the race, with the general consensus settling on 32mm. On race day, however, the teams using 32mm tyres looked somewhat outgunned by the multiple teams who had ventured up to 35mm.

 were spotted using Specialized’s S-Works Mondo endurance tyres in up to 35mm widths. Not only is this encroaching on gravel bike territory, it also pushes the Specialized Tarmac’s clearance to the limit with the manufacturer only officially rating the frame for use with a maximum tyre width of 32mm.

SRAM teams are almost exclusively using one-by

, all of the teams running SRAM at the race had opted to run the brand's 

 with a single chainring. With the course of Paris-Roubaix as close to flat as the Spring Classics get, the decision makes a lot of sense. By ditching the inner chainring and the front derailleur, teams can make more of a concerted effort to pursue chain retention.

Movistar were among the teams that had replaced the front derailleur on their 

 bikes with a chain guide in the hope that this would prevent the chain from slipping off the chainring over the pavé.

, went one step further than the 35mm tyres used by some teams through their 

 G-One gravel tyres that were fitted to some of their rider's bikes. The lightly treaded gravel tyre was used by some riders based on the increased traction and confidence they gave on the pavé.

The high volume G-One tyre allowed riders to run pressures that wouldn’t look all that out of place on a mountain bike, with some riders running their tyres as low as 2.5 bar (35psi). Running pressures this low with a high-volume tyre can dampen out a lot of the harshness of the cobbled sectors. When asked about the choice of gravel tyres, one of the team's mechanics said, “I think the combination of having more comfort means you will need less watts to go over the cobbles.”

'We don’t really understand this discussion' Canyon-SRAM confident in hookless amidst UCI investigation

Fans of Paris-Roubaix of yesteryear will remember the era of double-wrapped bar tape to try and help riders keep control of their bikes. At this year's edition, double-wrapped tape looked to have all but disappeared, however in its place was the use of gel or gravel-specific bar tape. The riders from 

including last year's winner Alison Jackson

The new tape features the brand's CPC (Control Power Control) texture that aims to increase grip and control on the bars. The inclusion of the CPC material acts as part of a dual-density solution, providing a soft and grippy outer surface paired with a firm tape underneath. Prologo has been using CPC on some of its performance saddles for over a decade now and this new bar tape looks to be an alternative to tacky tape for riders looking for a more secure feel on the bars.

Endurance bikes are now outliers at Paris-Roubaix

Walking around the paddocks, things were surprisingly normal in regards to bike choice. The teams of SD-Worx Protime, AG Insurance-Soudal, Movistar, Canyon-SRAM and Fenix-Deceuninck all had the choice to run an endurance bike, which in previous years would have been the natural choice, but instead all opted for their standard road race machines.

Not a single rider in the race who had access to Specialized’s Roubaix bike chose to use it, with SD-Worx Protime saying, “When you see how fast the Tarmac is as a bike aerodynamically, that makes a big difference on the asphalt and in the race generally. This bike [Specialized Tarmac SL8] is so good, it is worth a try.”

After testing the Tarmac SL7 last year alongside the Roubaix, the team decided to go for the Tarmac SL8 with high-volume tyres over the less aerodynamic Roubaix.

Lidl-Trek women's team embrace latest tech trends for Paris-Roubaix

The only exception to this rule was Lidl-Trek, where the overwhelming majority of riders chose to use Trek’s Domane endurance bike. This uses Trek’s IsoSpeed decoupling system to increase vertical compliance at the rider's contact points with the bike.

Carbon bottle cages are no match for metal or plastic

On any other race day, you would be hard-pressed to find a Women’s WorldTour pro bike that wasn’t fitted with carbon fibre bottle cages. They offer a little bit of a weight saving but are also simply an incredibly ‘pro’ finishing touch to a bike.

For Paris-Roubaix, aesthetics were put aside with functionality featuring far higher up the list of importance. The pavé between Denain and the velodrome in Roubaix is known for claiming the bottles of riders as they hurtle along trying to keep in touch with the riders around them. In an attempt to retain their precious bottles, a significant number of teams were using plastic or metal bottle cages. These more solid options hold bottles firmly in place, reducing the potential for losing vital fluids to the cobbles. 

For all the latest from the world of cycling tech, make sure to head to our dedicated 

 and to keep up to date with all the racing over the Classics season, make sure to 

Interviews

This story is part of our series celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March, and exploring how the theme of ‘Inspire Inclusion’ can fit into women’s cycling, racing, tech and more.

 are a team on a journey. Starting out life as a small American UCI outfit in 2013, they have risen through the ranks, through their days as Rally, before joining the 

 as Human Powered Health. They’ve been at that level for two years now, and for 2024 the focus is to elevate their team even further.

It’s no insult to say that, for the past two seasons, Human Powered Health were hovering around the lower end of the WorldTour rankings, and that’s what they want to change in seasons to come. Bar just signing all the best riders, how do you do that? 

According to general manager Ro De Jonckere, their approach is about building a structure that works, and knowing that that will usher in good results.

A change in circumstance meant the team had more ability to do this in 2024, but De Jonckere explained how it was something the team needed to do anyway in the current climate of the women’s peloton.

“When the decision was taken to go full-out for a women’s team, obviously that meant that we had a bit more resource that we could put into the women’s team,” De Jonckere told 

 in a recent call, referencing the closure of the men’s outfit at the of 2023.

Human Powered Health men’s team set to fold

“But on the other hand, we knew that it was very necessary, because you can see in the last few years that the level and professionalism of women’s cycling has really been on the rise, which is a great thing.

“I come from a long background in men’s WorldTour racing and things that have been very normal in men’s cycling – nutritionists or professional coaches, for example, that’s something that 15 years ago was already common in men’s cycling, but this is all now just starting to come in women’s cycling. 

"I think it’s great to see that evolution, and that it’s also getting way more professional in women’s cycling, but it means that you have to follow that trend otherwise you’re missing the train.”

What that evolution looks like for Human Powered Health is some pretty big changes to their team over the off-season. They signed nine new riders after letting go of the same number, they hired Giorgia Bronzini as a sports director, they 

, they brought in a nutritionist and a mental coach, and they’ve shaped rider resources around sprinting and names who can win.

Ruth Edwards to return to the WorldTour with move to Human Powered Health

Money, of course, comes into it – that’s how a team like Human Powered Health can afford to bring in all these additional elements – but for De Jonckere, it’s about spending her budget in ways that will work in the long term, rather than trying to trade cash for quick success.

“You cannot buy a good team; you have to build a team,” she said. “It just doesn’t work like that, to say ‘tomorrow we’re offering a million for Lotte Kopecky, tomorrow we have the best team in the world’. 

"All of the pieces of the puzzle need to fit, so it’s very important that first you have your structure right, you have the right support, and then you can start to build your performance. I think that’s the right way to do it, and that’s the most durable way to do it. 

"I’m happy that in this team, we have the support and the belief from our ownership that this is the right way to do it, so it’s pretty great to be able to do it that way.”

More similarities than differences with men’s cycling

One of the notable things about De Jonckere is that, as well as women’s cycling, she’s someone who knows a lot about running a men’s team too. Her focus is solely on women’s sport at the moment, but her experiences all play into the way she manages Human Powered Health.

Over the years, a lot of emphasis has been placed on the differences between men’s and women’s cycling, and how forcing the women’s peloton into the mould of men’s racing may not be beneficial.

“I think it’s mainly in very little things, but all in all there are a lot of similarities – honestly, I see more similarities than differences,” she said. 

“Especially now that the level is going up, because if you had asked me two years ago, I would have said it’s completely different, because the level of professionalism was so different, but we’re really going through an evolution now.”

There are, of course, immutable differences between the two sides of the sport, but attitudes are converging, and De Jonckere sees this as a good thing.

“It is something that you could say might be a little more delicate with women when we’re talking about fitness level and nutrition and diets,” she said. “But you feel that the women are now evolving with us at this level, they look at it the same as men are looking at it with good nutrition, body weight, things like that. 

"I think for many of these women, they see it as a great opportunity now that they finally have the same resources as the men, the same responsibilities, and that they are being treated equally, as much as we can within the limits of the difference in budgets, because that’s still a little bit the case.”

€1 million offers ‘not good for long term sustainability’ of women’s cycling, says FDJ-SUEZ boss

There comes the sticking point: budgets. They vary wildly in cycling – that disparity is not something that’s unique to the women’s sport – and that can cause problems. Human Powered Health are a team that are trying to sit comfortably within the hierarchy, rather than scramble for survival at the bottom, but the difficulty is something they’re well aware of.

“One of the downsides, I would say, of the very rapid growth of women’s cycling is that maybe sometimes it goes a little bit too fast. Because obviously with that raised level of professionalism comes higher costs, and we see that not all teams are ready for that, because maybe the budgets aren’t growing as fast as costs are growing," De Jonckere said.

"That’s both on the level of the teams and on the level of the race organisers, because we have a calendar that is on one hand great – you have so many opportunities to race both on WorldTour level and .1, .2 races – but on the other hand, you also see that some organisers are struggling. So it is a little bit of a delicate balance.

“So that is something that we will need to be very careful about, and that hopefully can be managed in a good way and not have too many victims along the way.”

Having a good ethos and working on your structure is one thing, but in a sponsorship-dependant sport, there has to be a way of quantifying whether you are successful. For a team like Human Powered Health, that comes in the form of goals that are modest but clear.

“For us, the position that we end up in the ranking is going to be important. This year, I would say if we can get to the 10th or 11th spot then I think we can be happy with ourselves and it means we’re continuing to grow. We came from 22nd to 14th last year, but we can go up to 10th or 11th this year, and then move into the top 10 next year, and to be able to do that we will need to be able to score consistently through the season.

“For that, we have a calendar with a good mix of WorldTour races and .1 races. We are not doing the full WorldTour calendar – there are a few that we won’t do – but we are doing most of it, and we’ll add to that some .1 races. That’s a good combination because you can put your more experienced riders in the WorldTour races and then use the .1 races for the young girls to get some more experience and maybe get a result and keep it motivating for everybody."

Ruth Edwards rediscovers race rhythm at Santos Tour Down Under

With this aim, the team’s recruitment has focused more on the slightly more experienced riders, with De Jonckere also highlighting the way the pyramid and the tiered structure need to grow, so young riders have a place to develop. With UCI points so important, the situation is that – perhaps counterintuitively – it’s mainly the bigger teams who can give a spot to younger riders.

“The reason is that, for us, at this point it’s very important, like I said, to grow. We want to go up the rankings, and to do that you need points, and to get points it’s just easier for us to rely on a little bit more experience. 

, for example, who have some of the top riders who can grab the big points, I would say they are able to have some young girls alongside that that they can develop because if they don’t score a lot of points in the first few years, that’s okay, they’re getting the points anyway with their top riders. 

"For a team like us, we’re still very much growing and building our performance, so it’s a bit more difficult at this point to say ‘we’ll take five very young riders and see how it goes’.”

As well as improving their structure and putting an emphasis on professionalism, there is another string to Human Powered Health’s bow: they are a team that have a lot of women working behind the scenes, alongside De Jonckere as one of a growing number of female general managers in the women’s sport.

Having women working behind the scenes is not something the team – or any team, for that matter – makes a big deal about, but that doesn’t mean it’s an insignificant fact.

“I think it’s very important, and that’s why we try to have women in all levels of our team,” De Jonckere said. “We have female soigneurs, our nutritionist is female, we have a female sports director, our sports psychologist is female.

“I don’t want to have a team where we have only females in the staff, but I think it’s good to have a mix. Maybe it’s not as common to have women in leadership roles, but we see that that is happening more and more and I think that’s been a good evolution. Especially when it comes to women’s cycling, it has been a world that has been dominated by men for many years."

“In my career I have experienced sometimes some difficulties as a woman in a man’s world, so to say," De Jonckere continued. "Although in general, from my close environment, I’ve always felt very supported, and it was great that I was given this opportunity and the faith and belief from the Human Powered Health ownership for this role.”

That belief is clearly well-placed, as De Jonckere is setting up a strategic, ambitious squad that doesn’t just want to rise with the tide in women’s cycling, but they want to ride the wave too. The structure is there for 2024, now the results just need to follow.

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Daria Pikulik	27	8	1667
Audrey Cordon-Ragot	34	20	505
Linda Zanetti	22	5	383
Yuliia Biriukova	26	2	374
Ruth Edwards	30	17	345

Human Powered Health

Human Powered Health

The Team

Top Human Powered Health Stories

Ruth Edwards extends contract with Human Powered Health until 2026

Paris-Roubaix Femmes tech: How did teams set up their bikes for a day in hell?

Climbing the ladder: How Human Powered Health are elevating their women’s team

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