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Ally Wollaston was responsible for two of the four victories the AG Insurance-NXTG celebrated this year. Britt’s Belgian championship and Maud’s Watersley win being the other two.

“The best way to describe my 2022 season is an absolute whirlwind,” Ally starts.

“It was a year filled with firsts. My first long stint away from home, first professional podium, first professional win, first Women’s WorldTour race, first Tour de France, first race with cobbles, first time racing in a leader’s jersey, first surgery.

I learnt more in the 2022 season than I have collectively from the past 10 years of riding and racing bikes. Being thrown into the deep end at World Tour races, companied by extensive support from the team was a fast track to absorbing knowledge. The ability to navigate a bunch sprint, race in a peloton of 150 women, fuel effectively, and communicate with teammates and staff being a small snapshot of key learnings this year.

This year was jam packed with highs and lows, with a clear highlight being my first professional win in Morbihan. This race served not only as a great morale & confidence booster, but also as a gentle reminder that racing bikes professionally is what I truly love to do. Besides racing itself, a real highlight for me was watching the progress of our team over the season. Collectively, as a group, we achieved some amazing milestones, and more importantly had fun along the way. Being a part of the growth of this team and seeing Natascha’s vision come to life has been both motivating and inspiring.

It almost goes without saying that the low point for me this season was crashing in stage 2 of the Tour De France Femmes. Missing out on racing the remainder of the Tour, as well as the Commonwealth Games was a truly bitter pill to swallow. However, if I had the chance to redo this season I wouldn’t change a thing, as racing the Tour de France was a moment in history that I will remember forever. Races come and go every year, but being a part of history in women’s sport doesn’t come by often.

I wouldn’t be a cyclist without having surgery at Herentals, so I’m relieved to have that checked off the list now! I was exceptionally lucky to have a great support network around me during this time, which made a bad situation a whole lot better.

I’m proud that I’ll be staying with AG Insurance NXTG team for the next two seasons. This team have always been supportive of my track ambitions, which is really important for me particularly with Paris 2024 being a big goal for me. I have ambitions to have my first classics season, as well as hopefully racing one of the grand tours. I have no doubt next year will be a year full of laughs, epic racing, and plenty of success. This team is my family away from home, and I can’t wait to see what we achieve together over the next two years.”