Back in 2005, Nicola Cranmer launched a small team in Northern California to give local women a chance to train and race. Loaded with talent and determination, the team’s goals quickly grew to aim at cycling’s highest levels, starting with UCI Track World Cups. Two decades later, Cranmer continues to meet those targets -- and more.
As general manager of Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28, her squad is the longest-running women’s professional cycling team in the world, with a legacy that’s produced 16 Olympic and Paralympic medalists and 17 world championship titles.
Now in its 21st season, the team is renamed every four years to focus on the upcoming Olympic & Paralympic Games and is currently the only US-based women’s UCI Continental squad. Their junior squad is also a part of the mentoring and development process.
“We do things differently,” says Cranmer, who was born in Salisbury, England and grew up racing horses. “We listen to athletes and we’re very collaborative.”
They also emphasize academics. “Some girls don’t get or know about opportunities to compete, so it’s always been important to provide that for young girls and women. There’s also a way to balance academics and athletics and a career outside cycling, and it’s important for me to create that balance.”
Cranmer discovered cycling when she moved to Northern California in the mid-1980s, landing in Marin County and meeting some mountain bike pioneers. She raced cross country and downhill, including at the professional level for WTB and Proflex.
After a few years off the bike, she began road riding on a local shop team to encourage a friend who was new to racing. When the men’s team got more support than the women, Cranmer started her own team. “I met Giana Roberge, one of the directors of the Saturn team, who handed me a giant binder on how her team was organized,” she says.
Things came together quickly. Cranmer got funding, collaborated with top women racers, and began building industry relationships which exist to this day.
One of the most important connections has been with USA Cycling’s National Team program, a relationship that allows cyclists to race for both the national team and her team. “We’re in constant communication with USA Cycling and doing the best we can with the track and road schedule to develop riders’ engines and balance national team obligations,” Cranmer says. Nearly half of this year’s TWENTY28 team is part of USA Cycling’s Track program.
Along with team high performance director and 3x Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong, sports director and Olympic cyclist Shelley Olds, and finance director Julia Violich, who serves on USA Cycling’s Foundation Board, the goal of Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 is to create Olympians, National Champions, and scholars. And while not everyone will reach those goals, it’s important to provide the opportunities.
With the junior athletes, says Cranmer, “We talk about collegiate scholarships and racing. Luckily collegiate cycling is on the upswing, so they really can get their education and continue to ride bikes and race for a pro team and a college.”
This season’s pro squad of 11 women is led by Cuban-born, U.S.-based Marlies Mejias, the winningest female on the road in North America last season, and U.S. Time Trial National Champion, Emily Ehrlich.
The group includes six national champions in road and track and is a wonderful mix of talent, from U23 Kenna Pfeiffer to 35-year-old Navy veteran Marjorie Rinaldo.
“I’m motivated by finding athletes that I see have potential and developing them within our program,” explains Cranmer. Track superstar Jennifer Valente, for example, joined the team as a junior and went on to win five Olympic medals, including two golds in Paris. The team supported what she needed with the national team program and collaborated on her schedule.
“Nicola has built a supportive environment that allows her riders to become the best bike racers they can be, while also developing skills that will benefit them long after their competitive careers are over,” says USA Cycling’s CEO, Brendan Quirk. “One of our most important responsibilities at USA Cycling is to achieve long-term success for Team USA at the World Championships and Olympic & Paralympic Games, and our relationship with TWENTY28 is an essential way for us to bring those medals home.”
The first part of this season will focus on track for seven athletes, while a developmental squad will kick off with road racing. Later, the team will be more road-focused, doing USA-based and UCI stage racing, criteriums and one-day races. They’ll pivot and refocus at season’s end on Track World Championships, where the hunt for Olympic points begins.
Recruiting sponsorships has always been challenging, says Cranmer, but she relishes the personal and professional connections she’s built through the years. This year brings a new, multi-year technical partnership with Michigan-based Stromm Cycles. In addition to supplying bikes, Stromm will bring the team’s top time trialists and pursuiters into the wind tunnel to refine rider positioning, cockpit integration, and equipment selection.
The team moved headquarters four years ago to Roanoke, Virginia to partner with their title sponsor, Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and Virginia Tourism Corporation. Since the move, Roanoke College started a cycling program, and some of the team’s juniors have started college there. Endurance Mountain Bike Nationals were held in Roanoke in 2025 and are scheduled again for 2026.
Looking forward, the team’s goal is to support athletes through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. “We want to continue being the premier development program in the U.S., and keep finding new and exciting riders,” Cranmer says. “There’s so much talent out there.”
