Drops Cycling Team is pleased to announce that Maria ‘Tata’ Martins will race in the team colours in 2020.
The 20-year-old Portuguese rider joins the team after two seasons with Spanish team Sopela. During those two years, Maria has picked up several UCI top ten results with her most impressive results coming towards the end of this season, a 6th place at The Madrid Challenge World Tour race. Earlier in the season, Martins finished 4th at the European U23 Road Race Championships.
Bob Varney, Team Director spoke about Maria “Determination and tenacity, that never say die spirit, is written through the DNA of our programme and it’s written through the DNA of our riders. Tata Martins’ desire to go to the next level epitomises that spirit and we are all excited to have her on our roster for 2020. I’m sure this ambitious young sprinter will surprise a few people next season.”
Martins has her eyes firmly set on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she’ll pursue her track aims. In October, Maria won the bronze medal at the Scratch Race European Champions.
Maria spoke about her move to the team “It’s such a big pleasure to be part of the team Drops next year. I’m grateful for the opportunity the team gave me to prove what I can do in what I like to do the most.
Drops have a strong and very healthy mindset, always facing each challenge as an opportunity to be better, which is something I truly admire in sport. It will be a super important year so I’m sure we will achieve greats things together. Thanks for your confidence and 2020 is calling!”.