Bigla Katusha announced that it has signed former mountain bike world champion Katrine Stillnemann to its roster for the upcoming season.

The 30-year-old Swiss rider will combine her debut season in mountain biking and road, hoping the two disciplines will complement each other.

"I am looking forward to this new challenge," Stillnemann said in a Bigla press release. 'I think my strong technical skills on the bike will serve me well on the road. A quick start on the mountain bike has already given us a taste of the hectic pace expected in the peloton.

"But good planning will also be key to success next year. I think the two disciplines can complement each other; MTB is already practiced on the road, so I don't think it will make much difference."

Stirnemann was a cross-country eliminator world champion in 2014 and won the title again in 2017. She is also a three-time European champion in the same MTB discipline, in 2014, 2015, and 2017, and has her sights set on the MTB European and World Championships next season.

"The spring road races will also strengthen my stamina and speed for the important MTB races. And while the MTB European and World Championships will be held much earlier next year due to the Olympics, the second half of the year will allow me to focus even more on the road racing scene," she said.

She has already stepped into the water this season as part of the Swiss team that finished sixth in the team time trial mixed relay at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England.

"We are delighted that Catherine has extended her ambitions into the road racing discipline. Catherine has a lot of talent and we believe she can do just as well on the road as she did in MTB."

"We were looking for riders with strong technical skills and international racing experience, and we also wanted to develop more Swiss riders as part of our project. We are therefore very happy that Katrin has decided to join our team. We look forward to providing her with the best platform to grow in the international road racing scene."

Other new signings to Bigla for 2020 include Germany's Clara Koppenberg, who returns to the team after a season with WNT-Rotor, and Swiss time trial and road race champion Marlen Reusser.

It was announced that Katusha Sport, which supplied kits to the men's WorldTour team Katusha-Alpecin this season, will become Bigla's clothing supplier, and the team will be called Bigla Katusha next season.