For most UK riders it’s the season to wrap up warm and tentatively dodge the suspicious looking white patches on the road. For most pro riders, it’s training camp season – with teams setting up bases across Europe for presentations and long training rides.

Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling, however, have decided to kick proceedings off with a staff training camp – to make sure those behind the scenes are working well together and ready to face the challenges ahead.

The team of twelve consists of ex-professional athletes, and keen cyclists – and this year there are five women on staff. With governing bodies and the UCI making steps to increase the number of women working on teams, and coaching, this is a good sign.

Team Owner and Manager Rochelle Gilmore brought the non-riding members of the team together in Ghent, Belgium, to discuss objectives for the year and build relationships. Kind of like one of those awkward team-building days most offices like to have, but much longer and with more bike riding.

Gilmore commented: “It’s been absolutely wonderful to be here in Belgium with all the staff. We’ve got twelve full time staff for Wiggle High5 in 2017. It’s just been great to bring everyone together and talk about the team culture, and the objectives for 2017 for each of the staff members.”

She added: “We started each day with a bike ride, and I think that’s really nice to get to know all the different staff. We’re obviously from all over the world; we’re all different nationalities. We’ve got five women in the team next year, amongst the staff, so that’s fantastic,” Gilmore said.

Aside from the riding and the pre-Christmas fun, the weekend was devoted to workshops and meetings, aimed at creating and maintaining the best possible team culture, with staff and athletes, to ensure that Wiggle High5 continues to be the most professional cycling team.

Check out this video from the trip…