The Polish rider is the final woman to join Trek bringing the total number to 12.
Anna Plichta is currently riding for Boels–Dolmans and will add strong climbing legs and experience to the Trek team beginning in 2019. Anna, 26, was a late addition to Boels–Dolmans in 2018 – a team presently second in UCI world rankings – and has shined brilliantly in a supporting role for the team’s leaders.
Anna was a relative latecomer to cycling. She began in mountain biking but did not like the technical downhills. At the age of 16, she tried road cycling and placed second in her first race, and finding out she was pretty good at it, kept at it. But it was hard. Juniors in Poland race with the elites and the DNFs (did not finish) started to add up. So, at eighteen, she decided to stop and focus on her studies.
Anton Vos/BettiniPhoto©2018
For a year and a half, Anna didn’t race and then suddenly took up the sport again, preparing for and racing the National Championships. She did not win but rode a solid race and crossed the line in fifth position – a very decent result after her time away.
The biggest amateur team in Poland offered her a contract, and a year later she landed on the UCI team BTC City Ljubljana. In 2017, she joined WM3 Pro Cycling, the team of her compatriot and rising star Kasia Niewiadoma and multiple World and Olympic Champion Marianne Vos, but what seemed like a great opportunity turned into a season of crashes and sickness for Anna.
When the team morphed into WaowDeals Pro Cycling for 2018, Anna signed with Belgium team Lensworld-Kuota, but the team lost its title sponsor and folded at the end of October and only a last-minute deal from Boels–Dolmans saved her 2018 season.
Anton Vos/BettiniPhoto©2018
On Boels-Dolmans, Anna’s ambitions were solely team focused, a role she excelled at, but as a rider who is still reaching her prime, and with a few respectable podium results in the last few years, including twice reaching the podium in the Tour de Feminin (Czech Republic) with a second in 2016 and third in 2015, she rightfully has not given up on a few personal goals.
I am super excited with all what is coming next season! The team looks incredibly professional, so I'm very motivated to be part of it. For the next year, I believe we can achieve a lot as a team, and I hope it is also possible I will succeed. There are a lot of chances, and if we are racing aggressively, as I like the most, good results will follow.
Since the official announcement of the new Trek team in July, 12 riders have joined to what promises to be one of the strongest international women UCI teams in 2019:
Lizzie Deignan (GBR), Lotta Lepistö (FIN), Letizia Paternoster (ITA), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (FRA), Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA), Trixi Worrack (GER), Ellen van Dijk (NED), Anna Plichta (POL), Tayler Wiles (USA), Abi Van Twisk (GBR), Ruth Winder (USA), Lauretta Hanson (AUS).
