Women’s cycling team BTC City Ljubljana will enter season 2020 united with the Italian Alé Cipollini Team. The Italian-Slovene collaboration in the form of team Alé BTC Ljubljana will enable the Slovene girls to remain in contact with the competition on an international level. In season 2020, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) will introduce two categories of women’s teams. Five of them will compete at the top level – the World Series, while others will have the status of UCI women’s teams. The newly-formed team has already submitted the application to acquire the license as a World Series team.

Alé Cycling is a reputed cycling apparel brand. The partnership between Alé and BTC is of great importance: it will give new life and enormous support to the women’s team of the Zecchetto group (Alé, DMT, Cipollini) and will be central in view of the request for the team’s entry into the Women’s WorldTour.

The new team, called Alé BTC Ljubljana, is preparing to face the 2020 season with the aim of entering the prestigious UCI Women’s WorldTour circuit as the only Italian women’s cycling team. According to the license request, submitted by Alé to the UCI in June this year, the team is expected to remain part of the top women’s professional circuit for the next four years.

Alessia Piccolo, President of the team and CEO of APG Srl, commented: “I have always cherished cycling, it is in my DNA, as it is in that of the company I represent, but women’s cycling means much more to me, it’s not just passion, it’s a mission. Being the president of this team is an honour and a huge responsibility. I’m constantly thinking about how I can provide this beautiful team and women’s cycling sector more prominence and more visibility. The partnership with BTC fills me with pride. Together, I’m sure we will be able to achieve great results and finally give women’s cycling movement and our team the concrete impulse they both deserve.”

Maja Oven, Director of Market Communications and Public Relations Sector at BTC and Vice President of the Alé BTC Ljubljana team, explained: “We are very enthusiastic and proud of this new Italian-Slovene collaboration, which will enable the participation of the women’s cycling team Alé BTC Ljubljana in the UCI WorldTour series. This will be an opportunity for our cyclists to grow and continue their success story. Their participation in the UCI WorldTour will also generate global promotion and enhance the brand reputation of the BTC Company, as well as of all other sponsors. For BTC, supporting cycling is one of the key pillars of our CSR activities. Since 2014, we have been the main supporters and co-founders of the first women’s professional cycling team in Slovenia and since 2003, we have also been supporting the most renowned cycling event in Slovenia – Marathon Franja BTC City, which is also a part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series.”

Yesterday, two big names of women’s cycling – the Italian Marta Bastianelli and the Spaniard Mavi Garcia – signed a contract with Alé BTC Ljubljana for season 2020.