'Moving teams is like moving house' was the metaphor recently used by Niamh Fisher-Black's Lidl-Trek teammate Anna Henderson when discussing with Cyclingnews how switching squads feels to a rider. But in the case of Fisher-Black, moving on from SD Worx-Protime to the American team at the end of 2024 brought a whole extra challenge, too.
Quite apart from the more predictable fresh round of hopes and concerns a new team (or residence) invariably implies, for Fisher-Black, switching squads also involved her developing over the months into a bigger new role as leader. That's a lot of plates to juggle, and as she told Cyclingnews and other reporters last December at the Lidl-Trek training camp, even though the 25-year-old took fifth in the Tour de France and silver in the World Championships road race last season, it was not at all a straightforward process.
