Cédrine Kerbaol boosts SD Worx-Protime’s climbing core with two-year deal at the Dutch squad

Just hours after another rider was announced for leaving their squad, SD Worx-Protime revealed the arrival of French climber Cédrine Kerbaol, who will join at the beginning of the 2027 season.

The 25-year-old French climber, who spent two years at EF Education-Oatly, signed a two-year deal with the Dutch squad in the hope she will boost their chances of winning hilly and mountainous races, the team describing her as the “reinforcement it was looking for”.

Kerbaol broke into the public consciousness while riding for Ceratizit WNT, where she descended to win stage 6 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the first Frenchwoman to win a stage of the modern race. Her solo victory in A Coruña during this year’s Vuelta España Femenina, ahead of future teammate Lotte Kopecky, was the perfect example of her aggressive style, attacking late on when the rest of the bunch seemed resigned to a bunch sprint.

“This feels like the logical next step in my career,” Kerbaol said in the press release. “Every team I’ve been part of throughout my career has increasingly matched my ever-growing ambitions. At Team SD Worx-Protime, I’ve found a squad of incredibly strong riders.

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“What immediately appealed to me was Danny Stam’s genuine interest in how I want to approach things myself and how the team can support me in this. I felt heard straight away.

“Before I made my decision, I spoke to Anna van der Breggen. She’s already had a brilliant career and knows exactly how to compete strongly in the general classification. Her experience as a GC rider convinced me that this is the right environment for me to develop further as a stage racer.

“I’m actually still at the very start of my career. I’ll be able to learn a lot from her and from the team to become a better stage racer.”

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