The Dutch Sabrina Stultiens (Rabo Women), who won the European Championships U23 road race, was hired by Giant-Alpecin, the Giant-Shimano's women structure. At 21, she is known in the world of cyclo-cross, where she won the Dutch title at the cyclocross championship in 2011. She won too a silver medalist at the European Championships U23 in the same discipline.

Stultiens, from the Netherlands, has raced for Rabobank-Liv for the past three seasons and despite her young age already has a wealth of experience of professional women’s racing to her name.

“I am really looking forward to racing for Team Giant-Alpecin next year,” confirmed Stultiens. “I have had a few good years with Rabo-Liv but I’ve decided to move on and to go for another adventure where I see the opportunity to develop myself further as a person and a rider. The vision of the team, with young riders, and putting development first is really important for me.

“In addition, I hope to strengthen the team. In the harder races I would like to support Claudia Lichtenberg as best as possible. I would like to develop myself as a climber in the shorter stage races. Cyclo-cross also remains important to me, although I will race less than previous years, and use it to prepare better for the road season.”

Team Giant-Shimano Women’s Team coach, Hans Timmermans added: “We started looking for a young talented rider with climbing skills and Sabrina stood out as a huge prospect. At the European Championships she proved that she can finish well too. Sabrina is the perfect fit in our team: young, talented, strong climbing skills and most importantly, she’s a team player.”

The contracts of Kirsten Wild and Marijn de Vries have not been renewed and the team wishes them the best with their futures.