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AFTER her professional debut with US-based Capital Wealth Advisors (CWA) women’s racing team was delayed for over a year owing to the pandemic, TT’s Alexi Costa finally joined up with some of her teammates for a short training camp in Naples, Florida.
Costa spent ten days in Naples and got her long-awaited chance to meet her fellow riding partners for the 2021 road cycling season. The group left Florida, on Wednesday, en route to Greenville, South Carolina, where they will continue the training camp until March 18.
The 25-year old is also expected to link up with her remaining CWA racing teammates in Greenville.
Over one year after confirming her first pro contract, Costa expressed elation to finally meet her new teammates.
“It’s been a really nice experience finally getting to meet and train with my teammates. We are really excited to get to racing together.
“We started gravel racing this year as well and the season is kicking off on Saturday with our first gravel race altogether.
“It’s been a great time to training together especially after not being able to meet up at all last year and I'm really looking forward to getting the rest of the girls together,” said Costa.
Gravel racing is the cycle industry’s new kid on the block and is essentially endurance riding over unsurfaced roads.
After the team’s camp in Greenville, the TT road cyclist heads out to Texas on March 20 to meet with my coach Andy Sparks. There, Costa will train and race on the track and climax a packed month of activity for the spanking new women’s pro rider.
The following three months of outdoor training leads up to the start of criterium racing on the US circuit in June.
Costa arrived in the US, in November, and went to Colombia one month later. On January 6, she opened and closed her 2020 competitive campaign with an impressive third-place finish at the Feria de Manizales Cycling Circuit in Colombia.
After completing four weeks of intense training, she showed grit in both her first and last competitive event of the season by securing a podium place.
Having spent the last couple of days familiarising with some of her teammates, Costa said she is grooving into the newest dimension of her pro career.
“I think I have adapted pretty good I think all we need to do now is continue to train and race together so that we are able to get the best out of all the members of the team.
“We all need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each other so that we can operate as one in racing. I will continue to work on my weaknesses so that I can produce the best results that I am able to produce for my team,” Costa added.
Teniel Campbell, who now races for the International Cycling Union’s Women's World team Team BikeExchange, is TT’s first female pro road cyclist. She is now in her second year competing at the pro level having spent her first year with the Italian-based team Valcar Travel & Service.
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