‘Graduating riders into European teams would be a success’ – First-ever Women’s WorldTour champion Megan Guarnier teaching race tactics, teamwork and life balance at new US women’s team

Megan Guarnier left her 10-year pro racing career behind in 2019 and turned her attention immediately to her family, having her first son in December that year. Away from the hectic travel and skirmishes of the new WorldTour for women, the road of retirement was anything but smooth. Guarnier faced a number of personal challenges, including the cancer diagnosis of her husband, Billy, who died in 2021.

Life is often called one big valley of tears, and Guarnier has endured many of those tears and emerged from the valley a victor.

Like her fast-charging style in bike races, she has regained balance and moved ahead, now refocused on new purposes with several growing families – caring for 11 riders on CCB Kenetik p/b Levine Law Group, a group of coaching clients, and raising her two young sons.

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This year, she will be a mentor and co-director for the US-based women’s domestic elite squad that relaunched from a merger of two teams five years ago, helping team founders Lauren LeClaire and Tim Mitchell. She’ll be in the team car at a few races and mentor young riders to pursue opportunities with top-tier programmes, if that is their desire.

“After my retirement and the birth of our first son, we moved back to upstate New York to better care for my husband, Billy, who sadly passed away shortly thereafter. Navigating my new reality without Billy and raising our boys took up a lot of my time,” Guarnier told Cyclingnews this week after returning from Spain with the CCB team camp.

“NBC contacted me in 2022 as an analyst for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and that has been a great challenge that has taken me completely out of my comfort zone. I began a coaching business in 2024, and I have really loved working with athletes of all levels.

“I think Tim and Lauren have created a great framework for the team: the majority of the athletes on CCB Kenetik p/b Levine Law Group are still in school (high school, college or postgraduate education). Tim and Lauren insist that there must be a life balance. It is really wonderful sitting at the table with these young women and listening to their academic pursuits and interests outside of cycling.”

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Guarnier joined the CCB Kenetik p/b Levine Law Group riders and staff in Calpe, Spain, last week for winter training. Ten of the 11 athletes compete on the under-23 level, with Katherine Rusch, 29, on the team for a fourth season, proving that development can still happen with a delayed start.

Many have had brief experiences already at European road and cyclo-cross races. Five CCB riders will represent Team USA at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships next week – Lizzy Gunsalus (the US elite women’s CX national champion), Alyssa Sarkisov, Katherine Sarkisov, Lyllie Sonnemann and Lidia Cusack.

“I think I was 23 years old on my first trip to Europe, and when I look at it with that perspective, they are getting wonderful experiences at a young age. They have a greater understanding around nutrition than we did even when I retired. This was visible every time we sat at the table for a meal. I am really happy to see a better understanding of fueling.

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“Just being at the training camp this past month gave me a better perspective on what I would find truly rewarding at the end of the season. I know we are talking about a cycling team, but seeing these women succeed in their academics while still having a love for bike racing would be the most rewarding,” Guarnier said about how she would gauge 2026 as a good year.

“Graduating riders into European teams would also be a success. Finally, seeing the riders better understand race tactics and teamwork, which might also have the side benefit of obtaining results, would also be a nice reward.”

The US-based CCB Kenetik p/b Levine Law Group cycling team took part in a winter camp in Spain in January 2026 (Image credit: Chris Norvold)

Lily Edwards, who won the US junior 17-18 time trial national championship, competed at three UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups this season, and she doesn’t turn 18 until March 1. Sonnemann, who was fourth in the junior women’s race at US cyclocross nationals, is just 18, and Jorja Bond, who won a bronze medal in the women’s junior race three years ago at US nationals and Pan-American Championships, is 20 years old.

The team also includes Gunsalus and the Sarkisov sisters, Alyssa earning the junior road title at the 2025 US nationals last summer, and they are all 22 or younger.

“The level of the riders on the team really surprised me. They are very young and very strong and were excited to go out and get long hours on the bike. The beautiful weather in Alicante helped.

“Sometimes, I needed to remind myself that almost everyone at that camp was U23. Most of them have spent a good amount of time in Europe, which is great to see that they are getting these opportunities at a young age,” she said.

“There is no recipe to follow on how to make the leap from a domestic racer into the European peloton. If I can be a resource for these athletes to help them succeed, this would be my way of helping the sport to grow. I see my role as providing access to first-hand experience of how to be successful in this environment and to live up to one’s potential.”

Leading by example