Leah Thomas on joining Movistar, teaming up with Van Vleuten, and the Paule Ka sponsorship fiasco
Updated 04/11/2020 at 19:05 GMT
Leah Thomas spoke to Eurosport's Orla Chennaoui after news broke that she will be joining Movistar for the 2021 season. Thomas was part of the Equipe Paule Ka squad that were let down by the title sponsors earlier this year, and the 31-year-old American discusses how the sport needs greater transparency.
Leah Thomas and Annemiek van Vleuten
Image credit: Getty Images
Leah Thomas will be a Movistar rider next season.
The Californian has been confirmed as the newest member of the Spanish outfit's squad, where she will team up with riders of the calibre of Annemiek van Vleuten.
The news comes as a positive boost for Thomas after a rollercoaster season with Equipe Paule Ka. Shortly after a scintillating ride at Strade Bianche, Thomas and all of her team-mates were left without a home after it emerged that the title sponsors of the time had failed to fund the squad for the majority of the year, forcing the team to abruptly close.
Thomas spoke to Eurosport's Orla Chennaoui about that experience, what her aims will be for 2021, and why it is such a boon for her career to be joining a squad as strong as Movistar's.
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Leah Thomas - 'I have an opportunity now to learn from one of the best riders in the world'
Orla Chennaoui: Leah, congratulations on joining Movistar. Talk us through the last few weeks and the collapse of your team Paule Ka.
I’m really excited to be joining Movistar for next season. I think there will be lots of opportunities to learn and grow and contribute there and I’m really excited to work with the management and my team-mates.
That said, the last few weeks have been pretty hard. I absolutely loved riding with that team, I felt we were willing to sacrifice for one another and really go all-in with our race tactics and that’s what made us successful. To have that taken away unexpectedly was a little bit hard to adjust to. That said, there’s always opportunities that come with change, and I have the opportunity now to work with a great organisation and learn from one of the best riders in the world (Annemiek van Vleuten) and I’m going to try and take advantage of that as best I can.
The really amazing thing watching Annemiek from the sidelines is that she is always 100% prepared for every race. I think learning how she is able to really focus on a race and what things she really keys in on in order to be successful will be huge takeaways for not only me but all the riders on our team.
We saw you battling for an amazing third at Strade Bianche this year, it was one of the performances of the season. What will be your target for 2021?
It’s still a little bit hard to come up with specific targets with so much uncertainty with the pandemic.
Right now in the off-season I’m focussing on building a stronger base and working on my weaknesses - kind of what I did in the last break from cycling. And it’s hard to choose a specific race to target, I want to be strong. I really excel in races that are hard from start to finish and I want to keep doing that.
I’m on the Olympic long team for the USA and I’d love to represent my country in Tokyo.
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Cycling nears greater transparency - Leah Thomas on Paule Ka 'fiasco'
Looking back at the situation with Paule Ka, do you think there are any lessons that the sport can learn from I guess the fiasco that that sponsorship was?
I’m still not exactly sure what transpired and what didn’t. But what I can say is that I really hope that the sport leans towards becoming more transparent.
I think it’s really important to be honest and honour what you say, it’s really important to know what you can provide and know what you can’t and act accordingly. Until our sport can be trusted that what you say is what you’re going to do I think we will continue to struggle with sponsorships and the like.
We’ve just seen the announcement of The Riders Union for the men. How do you feel that the women’s side of things is represented on that front?
I definitely think there’s been an improvement along those lines. But I think there’s always more room for improvement and dialogue.
The importance of those organisations is to talk to the other side to try to see where they can meet and kind of get on the same page. That ensures everybody is protected, and I think that’s really important. We’ve definitely made strides forward but there’s always room for more.
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