This article was produced in association with MAAP.
The windows in the Liv AlUla Jayco team car are down and there is a warm sea breeze. Sand and ocean stretch to the right, while quaint, colourful houses in the seaside town of Brighton, Adelaide, line the left side of the road. “Hey Genie!” comes a shout from the dense crowd. Sports Director Gene Bates gives a cheerful wave back. “That’s my niece,” he grins. This is the first stage of the 2025 women’s Tour Down Under, and Liv AlUla Jayco are at home.
Since the team’s inception in 2012, they have been at the helm of women’s Australian road cycling. For young riders with big dreams in the Southern Hemisphere, Liv AlUla Jayco (in its various name iterations over the past 13 years with sponsors like Orica, Mitchelton and BikeExchange), is a ticket to the sport’s top table – a WorldTour squad with an Australian heart but an ambitious, global vision. It’s this finely poised balance of relaxed Aussie culture, combined with elite professionalism, which has attracted superstar talent to the team over the years. The likes of Tour de France Femmes winner Annemiek van Vleuten and Olympic and world champion Grace Brown are two standout names to have secured their biggest results in the Australian team’s colours – proof enough that the set-up is sufficient for the best of the best.
Long-term staff member Bates himself has seen the team go through periods of change throughout the past decade. The 43-year-old has worked in directing roles with both the men’s and the women’s teams and notably was a key part of Van Vleuten’s success during her career. The Dutchwoman’s approach to training, where she would spend weeks at altitude and train with the men’s team, was widely recognised at the time as trailblazing in women’s cycling. Now a few seasons on, Bates says that the sport is almost unrecognisable thanks to development in knowledge and resources.
“In women’s cycling, I think it’s night and day if you compare what it was like then to now. I think a lot of what we were doing in those days has caught on with other teams. Everyone’s doing an altitude training block, when at that time Annemiek was being criticised for spending a lot of time at altitude,” he explains. “Some commonplace practices in the men’s WorldTour have transferred over to the women, so teams now have to dig a bit deeper to think out of the box and create solutions.”
These shifts have made competition hotter than ever. Teams like SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek have been known to dominate, and Bates is on a mission to help Liv AlUla Jayco get on that level too. Since they merged with fellow women’s WorldTour outfit Liv Racing TeqFind in 2023, Bates says it has been a transitional period for his squad. After a year of getting used to new riders, equipment and set-up, though, 2025 is set to be a big season for Liv AlUla Jayco. Fresh sponsors have come on board, including much-loved Australian clothing brand MAAP, who have designed the team’s bold purple and grey kit, and Bates believes his team can and will be among the best.
“A big philosophy for us is instilling belief in riders and giving them the confidence that they can get to that level. In reality, they can and most of the time what prohibits them is that lack of belief,” he explains. “We’re about propping them up and showing them that it is possible. You don’t go from running 20th to beating Demi Vollering. There’s a pathway and a strategy involved, and that’s what we’re looking to do this year and next year. We also want to have fun along the way. When it’s business time, we all switch on and that’s really known. But outside of that, we like to have fun together as a group. We spend so much time together on the road, you have to have fun times as well. That’s a big part of the team’s ethos.”
And as I sit inside the team car and we cruise through the opening half of the 100-kilometre sprint stage from Brighton to Snapper Point, I can see part of Bates’ vision come to life. Driving the car is former Liv AlUla Jayco professional Jess Allen, who, since retirement, has started to work as a sports director for the team. The more experienced Bates is gently advising the 31-year-old on how to manoeuvre through the convoy of team cars: “Roger that,” Allen grins in response to his instruction.
At lunchtime, Bates offers round a ‘sanga’ [sandwich] and opens it for Allen, while she plays Forever Young through the car speakers, the radio crackling out from Adelaide Live FM. We’re in the early stages of the race so everything is relatively relaxed, and jokes are flying around the car. Both sports directors are smiling as they pass bottles to riders and get feedback about the dynamics in a slightly tense peloton up ahead. Tasmanian-born Georgia Baker, one of the more experienced and longest-standing members of the Australian squad, is calling the shots on the radio, telling her team-mates where to be and when. The 30-year-old knows what she’s doing, and is a crucial part of Liv AlUla Jayco’s roster for the season ahead.
“2017 was my first year with the team as they were doing a partnership with the Australian track programme. There were a few track riders that joined to race overseas and to get experience that way. That was the reason for my signing. It was the team I have always looked up to, especially as an Aussie,” Baker had told me a few moments before the stage.
“As a young female coming through, it was always Jayco and I remember really wanting to join this team. For me, it was a no-brainer to go with them. I had a bit of a break on the road after 2017 and came back after the Tokyo Olympics. 2022 was my first proper year where I was fully focused mainly on the road. From then I could see a huge shift from 2017 to 2022 and it’s just been a constant improvement.”
Baker notes that the team has progressed quickly, highlighting that the positive environment it fosters makes it an attractive place to ride as a female cyclist: “I’ve seen the professionalism go up a notch. We’ve been really lucky to get the sponsors that we have on board and riders actually really want to come to our team as well, like other Europeans. I’ve seen this change to people actually wanting to ride for us because we do have that Aussie culture which is fun and laid back but also serious at the same time and we work hard. That’s something that has always remained in the team, which is really special. Overall on the women’s side as well, we’ve seen big steps up in how our side of the team is supported.”
Having grown up through the Australian Cycling programme, Baker is acutely aware of the additional challenges faced by those who want to come and race in Europe from further afield. The cost of travel and accommodation is one thing, but there’s also a cultural shift to get used to. Liv AlUla Jayco helps make the jump to professional racing a little less severe for Australian cyclists.
"Having this team is so important to Australian cycling. I think the Europeans understand from being at Tour Down Under how far away we are from Europe and a lot of the racing. Sometimes when you’re from Australia you feel like it’s such a huge step to go to Europe and you do need that help because you can’t just really go there by yourself without a team. Having this Australian squad has been something that I think a lot of young females can look up to and strive for as well. It’s inspired a lot of Aussies,” said Baker.
“Living overseas for eight months of the year is quite hard, and with the time difference it’s challenging to keep in contact with your friends and family. To have your own Aussie family around you is really important to also make sure we perform, but also being happy and that’s really important too. Reflecting on it now, I’m very lucky to have had that culture.”
Sports director Bates explains that Liv AlUla Jayco is passionate not only about helping those at the top of the sport, but also ensuring that their impact trickles down to help future generations of riders get to the top. Baker was one Australian female cyclist with a dream of making it as a professional, and there are plenty more behind her. It’s for this reason that Liv AlUla Jayco is one of the few teams with a women’s development squad as well as their WorldTour team. Newly-crowned Australian champion Lucinda Stewart took a surprise solo win at the Nationals earlier this year as part of the Liv AlUla Jayco Continental team, a true indication of the team’s ability to spot and foster new talent.
“In terms of the development team we would like to make the pathway quite clear,” says Bates. “If we talk specifically about Australian women racing in Australia, it’s focusing on that intermediate step through the development team and into the WorldTour team, and that’s the same for other nationalities as well.”
“Another benefit of having a development team isthat we can cross over. For instance, if a rider comes out injured, we’ve got that platform to bring them back slowly to a WorldTour level as they can race with the development squad. Vice versa, those riders we think might be ready to go into the WorldTour team, you can start to see them go up into the WorldTour races as well.”
While other teams have an approach of signing superstar riders to achieve success, Liv AlUla Jayco believes in fostering their own talent wherever possible. “It’s probably just a different philosophy,” says Bates. “For now, some teams that have the budget, they’ve got an extra million euros, they can go out and buy Demi Vollering, but that doesn’t come without risk or complication as well. We would keep ourselves open enough to say we want to develop our own talent, but also when there’s a need, we can purchase top talent when it comes available.”
Back in the race, there’s a crash in the peloton and Liv AlUla Jayco’s general classification hopeful Silke Smulders is involved. As promised, Bates and Allen quickly switch to business mode: the Dutch rider isn’t injured but needs a new shoe. On the radio they organise the best time to make the change and the team mechanic darts out of the car as soon as Allen pulls over. It’s slick, smooth and a sign of the team’s professionalism.
By now, the end of the stage is approaching and solo rider Daniek Hengeveld from Ceratizit is out in front on a brave attempt at victory. Liv want it to be a bunch kick, but there’s the usual stalemate at the front of the peloton when it comes to who will take responsibility and chase.
“Just follow, we don’t need to be expending energy,” says Bates into the radio. A few moments later Allen sees that Canyon//SRAM are starting to ride on the front: “Excellent,” she says. “We’ve got the fastest lead-out.”
Eventually, Bates sends a Liv rider to help with the chase, but it’s too little, too late from the Australian squad. Hengeveld time trials to an impressive solo stage win, and the team doesn’t get the result they hoped for. They will need to wait for another chance to show off the fast lead-out train that they have practised over the winter, yet Bates and Allen remain upbeat ahead of the rest of the week. They have a big contender for overall victory in Smulders, and three days left to show what they can do.
“Plenty more opportunities,” says Allen as we pull into the car parking spot at the finish.
In the final two stages which followed the day after I sat on the warm leather seats of the Liv car, getting an insight into the workings of Australia’s only Women’s WorldTour team, things only got better and better. As the climbs hit on days two and three of the race, Liv AlUla Jayco came into their own. Smulders, the team’s GC rider, showed exactly what she could do, finishing as runner-up on the crucial stage to Willunga Hill and then second again on the final, punchy circuit around Stirling. This gave her second place overall at the Tour Down Under – a promising start to the season for both the Dutch rider and her team at the first WorldTour race of the year.
“Before the Tour Down Under I targeted this race. The team thought I would be good here and that it suited me. I’ve been making a lot of steps this year. I had dual leadership with Ella [Wyllie] and we just saw in the race who was the strongest, which happened to be me,” smiled Smulders after the final stage.
Smulders, who turned 24 in April, came into the team’s fold following the aforementioned merger with Liv Racing in 2023. In just her second season with her newly-formed team, she has noticed the step up in support and she’s been able to develop under the guidance of Bates and Allen.
“It’s a way bigger team and organisation. There’s more support in all different areas such as nutrition and training. At Liv it was more a Dutch team, and this is Australian, but also with a lot of Italian staff so it feels more international,” said Smulders. “The professionalism is better. Last year I grew so much and I learned a lot and I could improve myself in so many different areas. We have a base now, we know each other and the team. That gives more trust and confidence. You see now that we can really make the step and it’s all starting to roll. Last year it was more about setting things up and now we’ve made a good start to the season. It’s a great feeling to be in a team that helps each other and is so much fun.”
It’s in that last statement that Smulders sums up what Liv AlUla Jayco is all about. Spending time around the team makes it clear: this is not just about bike racing. Instead, it’s about friendship, camaraderie, self-belief and family. There’s one clear goal and vision, alongside a plucky, determined underdog spirit which makes it hard not to root for this Australian team with a big heart. The Tour Down Under, according to Bates, Allen and Smulders, is just the start of what should be Liv AlUla Jayco’s biggest season yet. They believe they can make it to the top, but they will always do it while having fun along the way.
“I think we just need to keep this momentum going. Other bigger teams who might have more budgets or famous riders are really not unbeatable,” said Smulders. “That’s what we need to believe in.”
