Mia Williams
Women’s Racing Project (WRP) Team

Mia Williams

Women’s Racing Project (WRP) Team

Hi, I’m Mia, until September I will be riding with Entente Cycliste Thaonnaise. I am based in a small town, Thaon-les-Vosges, in the East of France. 

I started cycling when I was 12, in 2018, for the next few years I enjoyed racing, meeting new people and going on rides with my parents on the weekend. At the beginning of 2021, I got my first coach and decided I wanted to take cycling more seriously. The year ended up being very interrupted by my lockdowns and not many races ended up occurring, however, I stuck to my program and continued to improve. 

Over 2022 and 2023 I raced in the U19 category with 99 Bikes Women’s Academy, across the two years my performance in races continued to progress and with my new coach started loving the sport even more. Last year I was lucky enough to win the U19 National Road Series Jersey and across the three tours come away with multiple stage wins and podiums. That leads us to 2024, the year I have decided to take my cycling a step further and move across the world to race in Europe. 

After arriving in France, a month ago, I have met many different people and been kindly welcomed by the team. The landscapes are beautiful, and I already know that I am going to love my time riding here. Getting used to a different way of life is going to be hard, my first time being outside of Australia alone and being away from family and friends is certainly a very different feeling. 

My teammates have been very welcoming, helping me to improve my French and trying their best to communicate with me. The majority of my team is from France and because of this, the language barrier has proved to be a bit of a challenge. Waking up in the morning and realizing that I can’t exactly talk normally is something I’ve found a bit difficult, but every day it is getting easier and soon will be the new normal! 

The first couple of weeks of racing have been awesome! In my first Euro race I managed to sprint from a reduced peloton to third place and followed it up later that weekend in the Tour du Pays Voironnais with top 10’s in every stage and finishing up third on GC. We also managed to take home the team’s classification which was a result of some great teamwork! It is my first-time racing where riders have different roles and I have enjoyed working for others, knowing that they’ll have my back when the time comes. 

Last week was the U23 National Champs, this meant there was no racing happening in France, so I decided to make the trek over to Belgium! There I raced my first kermesse in a peloton of 126 riders, I have never really experienced anything like it but loved every second. In my time there I also rode over some of the famous Belgian cobbles and climbs which was extremely surreal and something I don’t take for granted! All in all, it’s been a great month so far and I’m looking forward to smashing out some more races and continue meeting new people and seeing new places!!!