Taylor Knibb goes pro-cycling and joins Trek-Segafredo

Taylor Knibb joins Trek-Segafredo as pro cyclist (Picture: press release trek-segafredo)

Trek-Segafredo is pleased to announce the signing of professional triathlete Taylor Knibb. Her first race for the road team will be at the US National Championships in Knoxville, and from then on Taylor will combine her regular triathlon program with a small selection of races on the road.

Knibb, already a Trek-sponsored athlete in triathlon, has been scooping up wins and medals since she turned pro. In 2021, her first full season out of college, she won a World Triathlon Championship Series race in Yokohama and the series finals in Edmonton. She then took on an elite field at Collins Cup and won there, too, posting the fastest bike time while riding a road bike, before placing third place at Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St. George. In the same year Knibb also won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the mixed relay for Team USA.

Knibb’s 2021 season set a high benchmark, but the following year she raised the bar even higher. Knibb won the 2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championships by a convincing margin. Notably, she posted the fastest bike split by 6’44” aboard her Trek Speed Concept. Knibb hadn’t necessarily planned to introduce bike racing to her program, but a foot injury stopped her from running for a while, so naturally her time spent on the bike increased, and she got even faster. She’s hot off the back of victory in Ironman 70.3 Boulder, again with a blistering bike split, and is primed for a shot at the US nationals time trial title.

Speaking of the change, Taylor Knibb said:

“I see the cycling events as on a parallel path to triathlon, I guess, like just adding a rail. Last year, I had a foot injury which was significant because it didn’t really heal. I didn’t race the whole summer, then, when I tried to race again it wasn’t actually healed, but I only learned that at the end of the season.

Last summer, when I was riding a lot because of the injury, I thought ‘oh, I wonder when time trial nationals are, that would be a really cool race to do right now’. And it turned out it was the next day, so that really wasn’t feasible. But I thought, ‘well, maybe if I had a year, then that could work’. When I got surgery in January this year, I could ride but I couldn’t really run, so it was an idea that I still had in mind. I could start riding at the four week mark after surgery, but I couldn’t run until the 12 week mark.

If you probably asked me like two years ago, what I would be doing in sport in general I would not have picked what I’m doing right now. And that’s just two years. So like, in four or five years? I have no idea. The whole reason why I want to try cycle racing is to learn.”