The new experience of Soudal-Lee Cougan International Team in the women's sector of marathons not he will only see Adelheid Morath give continuity to the project, alongside the leader there will also be another talented athlete, the Italian Marathon Champion, Sandra Mairhofer, with a two-year contract until the end of 2025.
Source: press release
The new project of Soudal-Lee Cougan immediately becomes ambitious, a "Dream Team" with the European Champion and the Italian Champion together, a combination that gives further strength to an important change in the structure of the team in its profound renewal for 2024.
For the queen of multisport, the Italian title won in Telve last July was the first in mountain biking, but in reality her collection of titles in the Cross Triathlon and Winter Triathlon is important.
Since her rookie season in 2018, the blonde 31-year-old from Val Pusteria has found herself twice on the world podium of the Winter Triathlon (2021 and 2023), twice on that of the European Championship (2022 and 2023) and twice on that of the Italian Championship in 2019 and 2023.
Few athletes have seen more podiums than Sandra Mairhofer who in the last two seasons has been one of the strongest, fastest and most determined athletes also in the Cross Triathlon where she won the world title for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) and the national title in 2020 and 2023. In the summer triathlon season, Mairhofer was also a protagonist in the XTerra circuit, competing with the best athletes in Europe and achieving great satisfaction: she was European Champion in 2021 and 2022 and vice champion in 2023, winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Trentino last September.
Becoming part of such a prestigious team has always been a wish of mine, and now that it has come true I am truly very happy and excited! I really like the atmosphere within the team and I am convinced that there is the right atmosphere to grow, have fun and give the best of oneself to achieve new goals. I am truly happy to also have the opportunity to compete in the most important races on the international calendar in mountain biking, first and foremost those of the Marathon World Cup. It makes me really proud to be able to race in the team where the European Champion is, I can't wait to start this new season and I'm more motivated than ever – Sandra Mairhofer
There is a wave of talent flowing through the women's multisport division right now and Mairhofer is at the forefront, as well as in marathon mountain biking, where she has become a major name and has grown in strength season after season. Her debut took place in 2018 more than her training for multisport, only a few races but already the first podiums at the Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike, 100 Km dei Forti and Assietta Legend. Then in 2020, after the forced stop period due to Covid, her season opened with her first victory in the GranParadiso Bike which further confirmed her natural ability in mountain biking too.
In 2021 Sandra dominated the Andorra MTB Classic stage race paired with her then teammate Costanza Fasolis, she also climbed to the second step of the podium of the Costa degli Etruschi Epic and the Mythos Primiero Dolomiti, wearing the national team jersey at the World Championships Capoliveri MTB Marathon.
With two victories in 2022 and four podiums Sandra Mairhofer began his climb towards the Italian title of the specialty, wearing the silver medal around his neck in Liguria in a season that culminated with participation in his first European Championship, finishing in fourth place.
There was no doubt that for 2023 Sandra Mairhofer was already thinking of new goals and reached its peak at the right time. Four races were won: From Piazza to Piazza, Granfondo Castello di Monteriggioni, Durona Bike and the one in Valsugana which awarded the 2023 Italian title with third place at the Hero Südtirol Dolomites, fourth at the Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike and ninth place at the World Championships Marathon in Scotland have established it as an all-weather champion and a major investment for Soudal-Lee Cougan International Team which aims to be a reference team also in the women's marathon results.
