Trek-Segafredo announced Friday that Abi Van Twisk will take a break from her professional cycling career to give birth to her first child in February. The British rider is in the second year of a two-year contract with Trek-Segafredo in the U.S. and will effectively be taking a maternity leave.

Trek-Segafredo confirmed that Van Twisk has not raced since Le Samyn des Dames in February, when the racing season was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her two-year contract expires this December.

"I'm not going to rush back to top-level professional cycling racing. It's a wonderful time and I'm incredibly excited about this new chapter and the new opportunities that are coming."

The UCI introduced a new maternity clause in the standard contract for women's world teams in January. As part of the new standard contract, top teams are required to pay their players a minimum salary along with other social benefits, including maternity leave.

According to Article 2.13.192, the maternity leave clause allows women to take three months off while receiving 100 percent of their salary, followed by another five months off at 50 percent of their salary. The current minimum salary will be EUR 15,000 (employed) and EUR 24,000 (self-employed) in 2020.

Trek Segafredo chose to exceed the maternity leave clause stipulated in the new standard contract for the Women's World Tour and instead pay Van Zwirsk 100 percent of her current contract, which expires in less than four months.

The most famous athlete to leave the sport due to pregnancy was Van Twisk's teammate, Lizzie Deignan, who left the sport in 2018 to have her first child and returned to the peloton in the spring of 2019 with Trek Segafredo.

Van Twisk, 23, said she has not decided whether she will return to racing professionally after giving birth and does not want to feel pressured to make that decision at this time. She said her passion for the arts might lead her to a more creative field or to a career that combines sports and the arts.

"I don't want to put pressure on myself to get back into racing right away because being a mother means jumping into the unknown. I'm still relatively young, so if I want to get back to being a professional cyclist in a couple of years, that's entirely possible, and I have the time to do that. It was great to work with Lizzie this year and see how she tackled her parenting and made a very balanced and successful return to work," Van Zwisk said.

"It's hard to say what my professional plans will be when I become a mother, but I would love to combine my two passions, biking and art. I want to stay in the sport, but explore more creative avenues that have been limiting me. I have always loved art and design and it has been a liberation for me throughout my cycling career. I have so many ideas and desires in my head waiting to be realized."

Van Zwysk began her professional cycling career in 2016 with the Drops Cycling Team and joined Trek-Segafredo in its inaugural year in early 2019. Highlights of her career include a fourth-place stage finish at the Women's Tour Down Under and top-20 finishes at the Madrid Challenge and Tour Down Under, while competing in top-level international events with Trek-Segafredo, with a number of strong finishes.

"I want to thank Trek, my sponsors, and everyone who contributes to running the team. They are the most collaborative, professional, and inspiring team in terms of the race itself, their struggle with injuries, and now motherhood," Van Tuysk said.

"The entire network is the epitome of how a professional women's cycling team should operate. I have raced with this team for two years at the pinnacle of the sport and my teammates are some of the most inspiring women I have met, on and off the bike, and I can't wait to see them smash even more bike races in 2021.