Pridham's ‘dream comes true' as first female WorldTour DS

Former Vitus boss joins Israel Start-Up Nation

Brit and stalwart of the domestic racing scene Cherie Pridham will become the first female sports director in the WorldTour with Israel Start-Up Nation in 2021.

Pridham has headed up the Vitus squad – formerly Raleigh-GAC – for the past 10 years and is well known on the British scene.

But when it became clear the team would need to fold from lack of sponsorship she found herself looking for work outside of cycling, with little success. She put in a call to a few teams and a month later heard back from Israel Start-Up Nation manager Kjell Carlström. “It was bonkers,” Pridham told Cycling Weekly. “He found some time in his busy schedule to actually give me a call. We spoke for a while and I told him about my aims and ambitions and he’s made a DS’s dream come true.”

While Pridham will be the first woman to helm a team from the car in a WorldTour race, she was keen to point out she doesn’t see her gender as a big part of her identity in the sport.