The DNA Pro Cycling team has just wrapped up an 11-day pre-season training camp in Phoenix, Arizona. Expecting a warm welcome in one of the hottest climates in the country in the Sonoran Desert, they were instead met with rain, wind, and cold weather. The harsh conditions bode well for DNA’s early-season racing block next month in northern France and Belgium.
“Camp was a great success,” said team director Catherine Fegan-Kim. “It was a great opportunity for the squad to bond, learn each other’s strengths, goals and trust each other’s wheels. We had some character-building weather where the riders proved their will to ride in tough conditions.”
In between wet weather and focused training, the squad participated in the Valley of the Sun stage race. The event has long been part of USA Cycling’s Junior Development series and is a favorite among domestic pro teams as a way to stretch their legs after returning from the off-season.
The race went well for the UCI Women’s Continental squad: DNA Pro Cycling took a close second in the road race with Colombian national road champion Diana Peñuela behind Marlies Mejias (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) and a win in the criterium with new addition, Olivia Cummins.
“We developed a lot of cohesion, practiced tactics and tested strategies,” Fegan-Kim added. “VOS had four UCI women’s continental teams competing, so this was a great way to start building for this season.”
Young sprinting talent Sarah Van Dam and Olivia Cummins are strong U23 additions after Canadian Maggie Coles-Lyster departed to race full-time in Europe this season. Cummins won the sprint classification at the Redlands Bicycles Classic last season, and Van Dam has numerous track accolades to her palmarès, including first in the Individual Pursuit at the 2022 Canadian Track National Championships.
Other notable additions include Shayna Powless, Holly Breck, Harriet Owen, and Rachel Langdon.
“Coming into team camp, I was nervous and excited to meet and ride with everyone,” Cummins said. “After the first couple days of training, I already felt welcomed and super comfortable. I was definitely nervous when I was named the designated sprinter for the VOS crit day.
“Being the youngest rider and my first year on the team, I was worried about not performing and letting my teammates down. But, they showed so much trust and belief in me and my abilities, I was so glad to have been able to bring it home in the end.”
Leading the charge for the team in 2023 are Peñuela and Mexican national time trial champion, Anet Barrera.
“It was so cold training in the rain, after expecting warm weather,” Barrera said after spending much of the off-season training at home in Mexico. “But I think it was a great opportunity for our teammates to bond. The new girls are so strong; I look forward to racing alongside them and the season ahead.”
First on DNA’s race calendar will be a European racing block in Belgium and France before returning for a block in North America that includes many of the American Criterium Cup events, as well as domestic stage races including Tour of the Gila and the Joe Martin Stage Race.
The team also plans to return to the Vuelta a Colombia and Tour Cycliste Feminin International de L’Ardeche.
The DNA Pro Cycling Team wrapped up its annual training camp in Arizona last week.
The camp lasted a week and half, and every day was treated as though it were a day in a stage race. 11 of the squad’s 13 riders were able to attend, plus eight staff.
“We race in it so we have to train in it,” said DNA rider Daphne Karagianis of the cold rain that arrived during the opening days of camp.
The first European race block of the season for DNA comes within a month and will very likely include similar conditions.
On the way home from a training ride, Mexican national champion Anet Barrera stayed glued to the bumper of the team car while descending a mountain pass while Kimberly Lucie followed close behind.
“It was rough, weather-wise, but made us closer as a team. Descending in the rain built trust in each other,” Karagianis said.
Team staff Racer Gibson and Doug Torres often worked late into the night during camp, keeping the fleet of freshly-built DNA race and training bikes ready to ride.
The training ride to Bartlett Lake northeast of Scottsdale became chillier and wetter as the riders gained elevation, with the temperature dipping to 38 degrees.
Canadian teammate Sarah Van Dam, one of the U23 riders on DNA, won the rain-soaked sprint at the turnaround point on the Bartlett Lake training ride.
Riders huddled in the team van for warmth while reviewing their mock race following a training ride.
While the scenery was iconic Arizona for the team camp, the weather was atypical. All in all, however, the riders were able to test themselves in rain, wind, and finally some sun.
Racer Gibson loads bikes the morning of day two of the Valley of the Sun stage race. The USAC race was in the middle of the team training camp and provided the squad with a real-world test lab for team tactics.
Team co-owner and DS Cathy Kim provided specific instructions ahead of the Valley of the Sun time trial.
Though not a team specialty, time trials are taken seriously by DNA Pro Cycling when the occasion arises. A day of recon for the ten-mile Valley of the Sun ITT provided the team with valuable practice time aboard their time trial bikes.
Mexican national champion Anet Barrera during the Valley of the Sun time trial.
Regarding having two national champions on the squad in Anet Barrera and Diana Peñuela, co-owner and director Cathy Kim said ”I feel like we played a part in them becoming national champions, and that validates our guiding principles, which is helping the riders reach and surpass their goals by believing in them and doing all we can so they can have their best race.”
DNA Pro Cycling has brought on Jack Seehafer as Performance Director for the 2023 season. Seehafer has previously worked with Boels-Dolmans and SD Worx.
DNA riders wound down following the Valley of the Sun road race, an 86-mile contest filled with teams testing their early-season form, including two other UCI teams.
Riders huddle before a stage.
The huddle goal, according to Cathy Kim, is to set aside race jitters with close contact and boost confidence. “Synchronizing makes us one,” Kim said.
Ahead of the stage three criterium at Valley of the Sun, Olivia Cummins went over the race plans with Sara Van Dam.
Cummins took the narrowest of wins on the final stage. While the UCI teams present treated the stage race as a practice event, the racing came down to inches every day, indicating the amount of work done by the riders for the upcoming season.
Cummins had her hair braided by teammate Kaitlyn Rauwerda for the podium presentation.
An impromptu backyard putt-putt golf contest was just a warmup for the final night of camp, a team competition at Top Golf.