Lifeplus-Wahoo burst into existence with a mission to bring young riders through the early part of their career and pave the way to the Women’s WorldTour. Their original promise to ‘Colour The Road’ has remained ever since as a statement of intent. To race vibrantly. To bring life, energy and colour to the races in which they compete.

The team’s history has not been without tumult, but this is true of virtually every professional cycling team. There have been moments when it looked like Lifeplus-Wahoo might hang up its racing wheels for good. Now though, the organisation is entering its ninth season in the professional ranks, with two Tour de France Femmes under its belt, a respected reputation for taking on the big names of the Women’s WorldTour and a 2024 race calendar packed with exciting opportunities and targets.

As the official apparel partner, MAAP will be supplying Lifeplus-Wahoo with elite, race-proven cycling kit  and performance-engineered casual apparel for this season and next, launching the team’s new race kit last month at the Tour Down Under. Pairing Lifeplus-Wahoo’s mission to colour the road and MAAP’s desire to push the frontiers of cycling, along with  the youthful, high-performing mindset of both organisations , it’s a natural partnership – one that will undoubtedly serve to help propel the sport forward. Together, Lifeplus-Wahoo and MAAP aim to be a meaningful force in the larger effort of working to challenge traditional norms, break down stereotypes and foster a more inclusive environment in the sport. Outside the racing, MAAP and Lifeplus-Wahoo will also be working on some cool projects to broaden the appeal of cycling.

- Heidi Franz

Tour Down Under is something like a home race for MAAP, even if it does take place in Adelaide some 650 kilometres from Melbourne, so it was a wonderful opportunity to have the squad on Aussie soil for it.

And it’s fair to say the WorldTour race went well for the team. 21-year-old Czech rider Kristýna Burlová finished fourth on the first stage, doing enough to claim the leader’s jersey in the best young rider classification. The next day, Heidi Franz followed up with fifth place on stage two. A strong ride on stage three – which finished with the by-now-iconic ascent of Willunga Hill – saw Franz secure an impressive top 20 on the general classification.

Perhaps more important than the results was the atmosphere in the team, as Franz explains.

“Australia was really fun. It was a good icebreaker for everybody. I felt like the riders just instantly clicked. I mean, it was kind of similar at team camp. We actually just immediately felt really comfortable with each other and it felt like everyone could just be themselves. It was kind of a continuation of that in Australia where we had that dynamic off the bike and then on the bike that translated over really seamlessly.”

Like Franz, Alicia Gonzalez is new to the team this season For Gonzalez, it’s a major shift in mindset.

“I was six years on Movistar, where I worked for the biggest cyclist, Annemiek [van Vleuten]. And now in Lifeplus, I find a really young group of people, of riders. I think I can share my experience with them. And I'm looking forward also to take some good results for the team.”

Franz was stoked to sign for Lifeplus-Wahoo, she says. And delighted when the kit provider was revealed.

“MAAP is probably the first team kit that I've ever had that I genuinely take pleasure in wearing every day. Coming from a bit of an artistic background as well, I always just loved the designs and the really thoughtful and creative ways that they made cycling kit attractive and really cool to look at.

“We’ve been learning a little bit about MAAP and the other teams and individuals they support. It’s great to see them support more people of colour and women and people in the LGBTQ community too. I think it's super cool and definitely something that I care about and support a lot.”

The team’s 2024 programme is still taking shape, with the summer stage races not yet announcing their wildcards. Because it’s registered in the second tier of the sport, Lifeplus-Wahoo doesn’t get automatic rights to enter every race… and so must wait to be invited. Nevertheless, the squad has a fantastic lineup combining lower level and WorldTour events – a strong combination of learning opportunities and chances to take victories.

This pair of super-tough one-days represents the start of the team’s classics season, after which the action just keeps on coming all the way through to the end of April. Both Hageland and Le Samyn tend to favour quicker riders who can get through the gruelling early parts of the parcours. If previous years are anything to go by, we’ll see plenty of the new Lifeplus-Wahoo jersey off the front throughout these two races.

A monument of the sport. Known for its punishing, steep, cobbled climbs which are raced in quick succession on a tortuous, twisting course that seems to cross over and double back on itself, creating a phenomenal roadside atmosphere with fans sprinting across farmers’ fields to see the action at multiple points. The prospect is one that Gonzalez, in particular, relishes:

“I'm a rider who loves the classics, particularly the Belgian ones. So yeah, I'm looking forward to Flanders. And yeah, most of the Belgian classics with cobbles.”

No hills to climb, but long sections of brutal pavé – enormous, jagged cobblestones that make it punishing work just to keep pedalling  – Paris-Roubaix is rightly held up as one of the greatest bike races of the year. Since 2021, the women have raced over the same secteurs as the men, with the velodrome at Roubaix providing the ultimate backdrop for the finale.

A difficult race to classify, it takes place during ‘Ardennes week’ but not really in the Ardennes itself. One thing is for sure though, it’s punchy, and Franz is excited if a little “intimidated” to take it on:

“We’ve talked about targeting some hillier classics. And I guess it'll be a really good thing for me to do that, because I'm a bit scared of the Ardennes – especially, a race like Amstel which I haven't done before.”

Known sometimes as ‘La Doyenne’ or the grand old lady of the monuments. 147km and 2,300m of climbing make this the toughest one-day climbing test of the spring. In the last two years, the winner of Liège has gone on to take victory in the Tour de France Femmes as well.

There are big question marks over whether this race will go ahead, and in what slot in the calendar. Conventionally it has always taken place in June. Should it happen, as a British-registered team Lifeplus-Wahoo will be one of the squads most motivated to show themselves in a home race at the elite level of the sport.

The team has requested a wildcard for the Italian Grand Tour. This race has been around longer than the Tour de France Femmes, but struggled at times for visibility. It’s known also for being a little chaotic, but the 2024 edition is under new management and has some interesting stages lined up. Expect Lifeplus-Wahoo’s sprinters like Burlová and Babette van der Wolf to be involved in the action on stages one, two and five.

Another race yet to be confirmed in the team’s programme, but which has – in its two-year existence – come to represent the summit of the women’s sport. Lifeplus-Wahoo has been on the start line for the past two editions, and are hopeful of making it a triple. There are three sprint stages on-paper, two of which take place during the race’s grand depart in the Netherlands. Dutch sprinter van der Wolf will certainly be hoping to make the Tour squad and show herself on home roads. 

Franz has been racing professionally since well before the Tour de France Femmes existed, so the chance to vie for selection is a huge motivator:

“That was the one thing I knew about cycling growing up. When I started racing we had La Course, but I was like, ‘Okay, when there's a tour de France for women, that's what I want to do.’ I guess that's kind of been my my pipe dream.”