Olympic gold-medal winning trio Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell have signed up with the new Dream Team Pro Cycling Honda women's road team for 2013.
The British trio join a host of women's road cycling talent on the British-registered, UCI professional squad, including Italian road race world champion Giorgia Bronzini, junior time trial world champion Elinor Barker, Commonwealth Games champion Rochelle Gilmore and young British talent Amy Roberts.
The DTPC Honda team is owned and managed by experienced Australian rider Gilmore, who has a string of road and track wins to her name in a career that spans well over a decade. The squad is supported by Olympic and Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins' via the Wiggo Foundation, and sponsored by Honda Motor Europe.
Team pursuit and omnium Olympic champion Trott said: "I'm excited to be joining the DTPC Honda team for the 2013 season and look forward to being part of what I believe will be one of the most professional and most successful teams next year. I'm looking forward to gaining more experience on the road with such a great team next year".
According to a team press release, Gilmore started the team to "provide female athletes with the environment and conditions that they deserve in order to get the best performance out of themselves."
The formation of the team is good news for the top level of women's international road cycling after several squads struggled to find sponsorship for the 2012 season, not least the AA Drink-leontien.nl team of Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws, which has now folded.
The team will use Pinarello Dogma 65.1 road bikes and will make their first competitive appearance at the Ladies Tour of Qatar from January 30 to February 2 2013.
DTPC Honda team roster 2013
Joanna Rowsell (GBr)
Laura Trott (GBr)
Danielle King (GBr)
Elinor Barker (GBr)
Amy Roberts (GBr)
Giorgia Bronzini (Ita)
Rochelle Gilmore (Aus)
Mayuko Hagiwara (Jpn)
Lauren Kitchen (Aus)
Beatrice Bartelloni (Ita)
Emily Collins (NZl)
Anna Bianca Schnitzmeier (Ger)
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