New Zealand’s Black Magic Women and Australia’s Meridian Blue Cycling have merged to form an elite women’s cycling programme to create opportunities for female cyclists from Oceania.
With over a decade of athlete development between them, Meridian Blue and Black Magic will form a new UCI Women’s Continental team. The team will be ideally placed to provide a springboard for Australian and New Zealand cyclists to progress their careers.
Black Magic Women has been a pre-eminent pathway to professional cycling for kiwi women over the past seven years with the likes of Niamh Fisher-Black, Kim Cadzow, Mikayla Harvey and Michaela Drummond all progressing to the highest level.
This year saw Black Magic complete a full European calendar with invitations to 10 UCI races, including the Tour of Poland and Gracia Orlova, where Alli Anderson led the youth classification.
Meridian Blue Cycling started as an Australian U19 programme in 2021, and alumnae include Emily Dixon (Canyon-SRAM) and Talia Appleton who podiumed at the Tour de L’Avenir. Five of the Meridian Blue Cycling team travelled independently to Europe with notable results for Alyssa Polites, Mia Williams and Cassia Boglio.
Oceania riders comprised around seven percent of the Women’s World Tour peloton won 14 percent of the medals at the recent World Championships in Rwanda. However female riders from Oceania only make up one percent of the UCI Women’s Continental peloton.
Black Magic Women’s Director, Patrick Harvey believes Continental teams are the finishing-school where riders prepare for professional careers, but the lack of opportunity has created a barrier for female riders from Australian and New Zealand.
The new Meridian Blue Continental Team and Black Magic Women will collaborate to foster development pathways from junior level to the pinnacle of the sport at World Tour level.
“We are excited about bringing a highly competitive team to UCI races in Europe after getting the job done at ProVelo Super League, said David Williams, Team Director, Meridian Blue Cycling.
Harvey said that the Black Magic Women's Cycling Team is an elite development squad dedicated to nurturing New Zealand's top female cycling talent.
“Our mission is to provide a clear pathway for aspiring young athletes to progress from national competitions to the international professional circuit. The team has a strong history of supporting New Zealand riders to be the best version of themselves, with past riders progressing to UCI Professional Teams,” said Harvey.
“Collaborating with Meridian Blue provides an exciting opportunity to provide a clear pathway to a UCI Continental Team,” he said.
