Team Jayco AlUla confirmed Friday that US-based Continental squad Hagens Berman Jayco would become the official development team for the WorldTour programme beginning in 2025.
Founded by Axel Merckx in 2009, Hagens Berman Jayco has graduated more than 50 riders to the highest professional ranks of cycling. This past year 22-year-old Alastair MacKellar, the winner of Alpes Isère Tour, moved from the Continental outfit as a stagiaire for Team Jayco AlUla late in the season, and then signed a two-year contract with EF Education-Easypost. Also departing in 2024 was US U23 ITT champion Artem Shmidt, who inked a multi-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers
Current Team Jayco AlUla rider and Vuelta a España stage winner Eddie Dunbar is an alumnus of the squad, as are former GreenEDGE Cycling riders Lawson Craddock and Sam Bewley.
“We are grateful to Team Jayco AlUla and owner Gerry Ryan for belief in our program and their commitment to the future of cycling. We are excited to find a partner, alongside Hagens Berman and Steve Berman, who shares our passion for rider development and nurturing the next generation of talent," Merckx said in a press release issued by Jayco AlUla.
The partnership of men's teams to nurture young talent follows a year after the creation of a women’s development team to support Liv AlUla Jayco. The organisation now boasts four teams, men’s and women’s WorldTour rosters plus two Continental squads to give promising young riders a place to flourish.
"Axel has done an incredible job in building the team over the last decade, which can be seen by the number of riders that have passed through and become stars in the WorldTour peloton with victories in the biggest races," said Brent Copeland, Team Jayco AlUla general manager.
"Growth and helping to develop the next generation has always been important to GreenEDGE Cycling and Team Owner Gerry Ryan. By having Hagens Berman Jayco now part of the GreenEDGE family is something we are all very proud of and it will provide a junction, a clear pathway for riders to envisage, a stepping stone into the WorldTour.”
In late November, Hagens Berman Jayco confirmed a 15-rider roster for the 2025 season. Among nine returning riders include Adam Rafferty of Ireland, Gonçalo Tavares of Portugal, Samuele Privitera of Italy and Ben Wiggins of Great Britain. Both Rafferty and Tavares recorded home victories in their U23 national time trial championships last year. Privitera finished third on stage 7 at Giro d'Italia Next Gen. Wiggins, son of Bradley Wiggins, won the silver medal in the men's junior time trial at Worlds in 2023.
New to the roster are two Australians, led by junior World Record holder in the 3km Individual Pursuit Wil Holmes of Adelaide. Tasmanian native Will Eaves had top 10s in the men's junior road race and time trial at Australian road nationals, then took time off to recover from a ruptured appendix.
