Top Australian Pro Chloe Hosking Says She May Be Forced To Retire
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While professional women’s cycling certainly seems to be on the rise with the huge success of races like the Tour de France Femmes, tough financial times around the bike industry (and the economic climate in general) are wreaking havoc on the women’s peloton as teams struggle and riders are forced to shop themselves around or accept low paying slots on teams as teams fold and restructure.
Top Australian pro Chloe Hosking gave a scathing and honest interview to The Guardian this week sharing some behind the scenes moments from her most recent team folding before it even began, and the appalling lack of transparency she faced in the process. If she doesn’t find a new team soon—and the clock is certainly ticking!—she’ll be forced to retire, she says.
She recalls where she was when she found out that her new French team—B&B Hotels—which she had just signed a two year, $150,000 contract with, was going to be folding due to a major sponsor backing out. She wasn’t the only rider affected by this news: Mark Cavendish was also reportedly signing with the team. He has since signed with Astana, but Hosking is still searching for a new home.
As with so many disappointing moments in the last three years, she got the news on a Zoom call. “One of the moments that really stood out to me,” she told The Guardian, “I was obviously very disappointed, and I was told to smile. I was like: ‘I don’t have a job, my 13-year career is over. Why should I smile?’”
The news was even tougher for Hosking since she had fielded other offers and had a position on the well-known Trek Segafredo women’s team prior to signing with B+B. Added to that, as an Australian racer, living in Europe for the season means needing a certain amount of income to survive as an expat, compared to some European riders who have established residences and even part time jobs while they race and train.
Hosking isn’t the only racer, nor is B&B Hotels the first women’s team, to run into problems this season. Until two weeks ago, it seemed as though the team formerly known as Le Col-Wahoo would be forced to fold entirely after Le Col backed out of the sponsorship citing financial difficulties. Mid-January, it was announced that LifePlus would step in as title sponsor.
Hosking points out that there should be safeguards in place to protect riders from situations like this: “How are teams allowed to sign riders if they don’t have the financial backing to execute the plan?” she asked rhetorically when speaking to The Guardian’s reporter. While pro women cyclists do have a rider’s collective, they still aren’t unionized, nor does the UCI have measures in place to protect riders who sign contracts.
One of the toughest parts, she admits, is dealing with all of the sponsor and team reach outs, while still trying to build and maintain fitness, and even begin her racing season. “It’s hard—it’s been mentally draining, it’s physically exhausting," she said. "And on top of that, you have to keep training, because if you want to get a contract, you’ve got to be able to prove that you’re capable of performing."
All of this has led to one unfortunate conclusion: Hosking may be forced to retire at 32, rather than make one final Olympic bid, rather than line up at the start of the second-ever Tour de France Femmes... All because of one decision, and an outcome that she couldn’t possibly have foreseen.
We’re seeing more and more disruption in the cycling industry at large, and the reverberations are being felt in the pro cycling ranks as well. We’ll continue to monitor the situation, because losing pro racers like Hosking doesn’t just hurt that rider or impact one team. The less top women can find homes on teams that can pay reasonable living wage salaries, the worse off the sport of pro cycling is.
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