After a prolonged transfer storm and a disjointed but successful season, Lorena Wiebes is looking forward to calm, clear waters at Team DSM. After moving from Park Hotel to DSM (then Sunweb) last June, 21-year-old Lorena Wiebes quickly adjusted to her new surroundings, winning three races in just nine days.

These victories (GP Euromat, Drydags de Panne, and the opening stage of the Vuelta Challenge) were in stark contrast to the season opener, which began with legal disputes and court cases as Park Hotel and Wiebes fought over her future.

"It's been a weird season, and even weirder with the pandemic," Weaves told Cycling News. [The first half was really short races and then just training. The second half was weird too, but we had a good training camp and it was a good experience. It was nice to end the season with some wins.

The dispute with Park Hotel was resolved by June, and Vieves was able to sign a four-year contract with DSM. She admits that the conflict with Park Hotel was stressful and difficult, but once clarified, she was able to work with her original team in the short term.

"In the end it wasn't so hard because everything with Park Hotel was clarified. The hardest part for me was to keep training throughout the season. Because I am a person who just races and likes to race, that was more difficult than the whole Park Hotel situation."

"It was a difficult situation, but it was clear in January that I was going to run half a season for them. We had to be professional and I and the team wanted to win the race. We remained professional, so there was no stress after the situation became clear."

"I was very happy with my performance,"

"I was very happy with my performance.

The clean slate at DSM brought both clarity and structure to Vives. Although the full race calendar has not yet been released and the German-registered team has a number of sprint options, Vives is happy with the seamless transition with his new teammates.

"They have given me a lot of motivation," he said. 'Being based in Holland, they are really professional. It's great to be part of a team that continues to challenge me, and they have made me feel very welcome. It also means that they want me to grow as a rider, progress with the team, and help us become the best women's team in the world." With Colin Rivera also on the team, Wiebes is well aware that not everyone on the team is at her disposal when it comes to sprints and leadouts. Along with the ambition to become the best women's team in the world, Wiebes accepts that sometimes she will be asked to work for others as the team targets different races.

"We want to have a really good sprint train. The lineup is not completely clear yet and will change from race to race, but Colin Rivera and Susanne Andersen will definitely be the two most important riders. They have the experience and of course riders like Julia Salk are really important.

"There are some young riders coming up and we have to learn from each other and get better. It's all a process and we need to learn from the races. My first win with the team was on a perfect level. It wasn't World Tour, but the lead-out experience was really important. We need to trust each other and it's different for me because I used to do a lot of sprints alone."

"I think Colin is better at sprinting uphill and when the race is hard. We all believe in each other."