Visma continues to scout talents in MTB and signs the winner of the XCC World Cup

The Visma Lease a Bike Team has announced the signing of young Austrian Katharina Sadnik, coming from the KTM Factory MTB Team, with a two-year contract. The 22-year-old cyclist, who was crowned the overall champion of the UCI XCC under-23 World Cup in 2025, will leave mountain biking to fully focus on her new stage as a road racer.

Katharina Sadnik, winner of the XCC World Cup (General), signs with the Visma Lease a Bike Team and makes the definitive jump to the road

Sadnik grew up in a family very connected to sports and started riding a bike at just nine years old. "I started with mountain biking in school, and one of the teachers told my parents that I had talent. That's how it all began," recalls the Austrian during the announcement of her new signing. Since then, she has developed a solid career in MTB, becoming one of the most promising young talents in Europe.

However, her interest in road cycling grew in parallel. "Last year, I was already training a lot on the road bike, and I loved the feeling of speed. I raced in the Tour de l’Avenir and the Tour de Féminine, where I finished tenth, and that’s when I discovered that I wanted to experience more of that type of racing."

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Joining the Visma Lease a Bike Team represents a significant step in her career after competing with the KTM Factory MTB Team since 2021. "I never thought a team like this would be interested in me. When I received the first contact, I couldn't believe it. I have a lot of respect for what this team represents, and I am really proud to be part of it."

Sadnik states that she is particularly drawn to the spring classics, such as Paris-Roubaix, and that her short-term goal will be to learn how team cycling works: "In mountain biking, you compete alone, but on the road, there is a whole group behind you. That part motivates me a lot. I want to help, learn, and become a valuable cyclist for the team."

The team manager of Visma, Rutger Tijssen, highlighted the qualities that the Austrian can bring from her experience in MTB: "Katharina comes from mountain biking, which has given her great technical skills on the bike. That will be very useful in the spring classics. We see her playing an important role as support for the team in those races. She is young, but she has great potential, and we will give her time and space to grow in the role we have planned for her."

With the arrival of Sadnik, the Visma Lease a Bike Team reinforces the trend of "fishing" talents from mountain biking to road cycling, something that has so far yielded unimaginable results with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

The Austrian thus joins a generation that seeks to transfer the technique and explosiveness of XCO and XCC to the women's road peloton. Her evolution will undoubtedly be one of the stories to follow in the upcoming seasons.