This time one year ago Allison Mrugal rode the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico with the amateur-level Amy D. Foundation team and was happy with a pair of top 15s across the five-day UCI 2.2 stage race. Now the 27-year-old US rider is part of the Continental-level Sopela Women’s Team and set to make her WorldTour stage race debut in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, May 1-7.
It has been a whirlwind of change across a few months for Mrugal, who has only been racing on the road for two full years. She moved to Europe and signed with a Spanish club team to start 2023, Kiwi Átlantico-Louriña. In early April she moved up to the Sopela squad, based in the Spanish Basque Country, and then won her first European race on the third day of the Lea-Artibai Txallengea, held in Berriatúa. It also the team’s first victory of the year, and they named her to the Vuelta squad.
