The eight-athlete roster for the UCI Continental Team Canyon Slam Generation, part of the Women's World Tour Canyon Slam Racing's Diversity and Inclusion Program, was announced today.

Ricarda Bauernfind, who won a bronze medal at the German Road Championships at the age of 21, and Antonia Niedermeier, who has a background as a competitive ski mountaineer, are the two German riders selected for the team. Olivia Sirilifa is Namibia's current U23 road race champion and also has experience in mountain bike racing.

Four other countries are represented in the diverse German-registered delegation: Fatima Deborah Conte from Sierra Leone, Valentine Nzayisenga from Rwanda, Siti Nur Alia Mansor from Malaysia, and Rioi Sharp from Jamaica.

Canyon-SRAM Racing opened its call for riders last September and received applications from 239 riders from 62 countries.

"We were overwhelmed by the number of applications from different countries, continents, a wide range of ages, and backgrounds," said Christine Kalkschmidt, consultant for the team's Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.

Nzayisenga is one of the veterans, just 21 years old. She won her home country's road race title in 2019 and last year won two silver medals in the team time trial (women's and mixed relay) at the African Continental Championships.

Sharpe won a bronze medal in the time trial and fifth in the road race at last year's Caribbean Cycling Championships. Conte was on the podium at last year's national road championships, and Alia Mansour won multiple titles in track racing.

One of the few women's professional teams, Canyon-SRAM has implemented a two-tier structure to provide a channel for development and has created this team to support athletes from countries that currently do not have enough athletes in the women's peloton, as well as those who share the values of the team.

"Since the development team is part of CANYON/SRAM Racing's D&I program, we not only wanted to secure applications from promising riders from a performance perspective, but also to create a new team that would be an ambassador for diversity and inclusion. We wanted to make sure that we had the best applicants," added Kalkschmidt. We sought information not only about the applicants' performance data and past successes, but also about their values, goals, and how they believe they can contribute to the success of the team."

The dark blue jerseys with mint green diamonds on the shoulders and sleeves are worn by the Canyon-SRAM Generation Team players. A similar design theme, "Astral Burn," which is also featured on the newly released jerseys of the World Tour parent team, Canyon-SRAM Generation, has been incorporated by designer Ultan Coyle into a more incorporated into a darker background and produced by apparel provider Canyon.

The Canyon-SRAM Generation will race on Canyon WMN Ultimate CF SLX disc bikes equipped with SRAM RED eTap AXS and Zip wheels.

"Being a successful professional cyclist is never easy, and almost impossible for riders without access to the necessary support network. through the CANYON//SRAM Generation team, we have been able to identify new female Through the CANYON/SRAM Generation Team, we hope to help change this by discovering new female talent from around the world and nurturing them to reach their full potential. I can't wait to see what these women will accomplish," said Roman Arnold, founder of Canyon Bicycles.