Mercato, 21 October: Thomson steps up to AG Insurance–Soudal, and Smith joins Smurfit Westrock
Noémie Thomson signs a two-year deal with AG Insurance–Soudal, Evie Smith and Karlijn Koops join Smurfit Westrock, and Elena Day and Mabli Phillips sign for CAMS Alba. The latest transfers and rider moves for 2027.
Noémie Thomson, who started 2025 as a fourth-category club rider, has signed a two-year contract with AG Insurance–Soudal and will race in the Women’s WorldTour from next season. She won the Women’s CiCLE Classic for DAS–Hutchinson in March, and follows Robyn Clay, who made the same step from the team to the WorldTour last winter.
At home, Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team have signed Evie Smith, a junior world team pursuit champion last year, and Karlijn Koops, both from O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes. CAMS Alba add Elena Day from Smurfit Westrock and Mabli Phillips, the British junior road race champion, and Solas Race Team keep Isla Easto and Jess Bufton. Josh Housley returns to Team PB Performance, two more Cycling Sheffield riders are bound for France, and Watts Occurring Racing have named all six riders in their first junior squad.
Drop us a line at info@thebritishcontinental.co.uk if you have news you want us to add.
Britons abroad
Noémie Thomson (DAS–Hutchinson to AG Insurance–Soudal, confirmed 21 October) is 23 and has signed a two-year contract with the Belgian WorldTeam, to the end of 2028. Her first race was a club time trial in 2024. She began 2025 as a fourth-category rider with Southborough & District Wheelers, won the Florrie Newbery Classic in her first road race that April, and joined DAS–Hutchinson in July after a month with its development team. By the end of that season she had been second at the GP Eibar, a UCI .Pro race, as she told us in our interview with her last December. This year she won the Women’s CiCLE Classic, the opening round of the Rapha Super-League, and was second at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. “It’s a dream come true to be joining AG Insurance–Soudal and stepping up to the WorldTour,” she said. Robyn Clay made the same step last winter, from DAS–Hutchinson to Team Picnic PostNL.
Alex Foster (Cycling Sheffield to Team Deux-Sèvres, confirmed 21 October) is the first rider the French N3 club has signed for 2027. Foster, 21, has spent three seasons with Cycling Sheffield, and this year won the Danum Trophy and was fourth at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. Joshua Horsfield (Cycling Sheffield, leaving for France, confirmed 20 October) is also going to France, the team said on 20 October, though his club has not been named. Horsfield, 25, joined from Reflex Nopinz RT this season and was eighth overall at the Sherpa Performance Stage Race in August. They follow Denholm Edwards, whose move to another N3 club, VCA Saint-Quentin, was in our 19 October edition.
SCO Dijon have confirmed the retirement of Farley Barber (SCO Dijon, retiring), which he announced himself on 8 October. Our 13 October edition said he joined the club midway through 2025; he joined in 2024, and we have corrected it.
Domestic
Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team have taken two more riders from O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes. Karlijn Koops (O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes to Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, confirmed 20 October) is 23 and Dutch, and follows her compatriot Maaike Brandwagt from O’Shea to Smurfit Westrock. She joined O’Shea this season after riding for Hess Cycling Team in 2025.
Evie Smith (O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes to Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, confirmed 21 October) is the third rider Smurfit Westrock have signed from O’Shea for 2027, after Maaike Brandwagt and Karlijn Koops. Smith, 18, from Huddersfield, rode for Shibden Apex RT as a junior. In 2025 she was in the Great Britain team pursuit squad that won the European and world junior titles, setting a junior world record on the way. In her first senior season she was eighth at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix and second at the Witham Hall Grand Prix. Arabella Blackburn, her team-mate at Shibden and in that pursuit squad, is staying with Alba, which races as CAMS Alba next year. Smith is the fourth British rider among Smurfit Westrock’s 10 new names for 2027.
CAMS Alba have added two more. Elena Day (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team to CAMS Alba, confirmed 20 October) is 21 and leaves Smurfit Westrock after one season, having joined from Loughborough Lightning, where she spent two. She was 10th at the CiCLE Classic in March and 11th at the North Yorkshire Grand Prix in August, and won the Duncan Murray Wines Road Race in 2025.
Mabli Phillips (Shibden Apex RT to CAMS Alba, confirmed 21 October) is the third rider from Shibden Apex RT, which closes at the end of the year, to name a 2027 team. Phillips, 18, won the junior national road race above Harrogate in July. Megan Cherry had been clear alone for almost three laps, and Phillips caught her on the final lap and rode away. Phillips also won the Women’s Tour of Mendip in August and was sixth at the Clásica de Jaén junior Nations Cup in February. She moves up to U23 with Alba next season.
That makes 13 riders for CAMS Alba in 2027: nine staying and four new.
Isla Easto (Solas Race Team, staying, confirmed 20 October) and Jess Bufton (Solas Race Team, staying, confirmed 21 October) join Harriet Hendry, whose re-signing was in our last edition, in the Scottish team’s Development Team for 2027. Easto, 19, has raced for Solas since August 2024, when she joined from JRC-Interflon Race Team. Bufton, 18, joined Solas in June from Velotik Development Academy, and was seventh at the Scottish road race championships in August and 11th at the Women’s Tour of Mendip.
Josh Housley (RideRevolution Coaching CT to Team PB Performance, confirmed 20 October) is the first new rider Team PB Performance have named for 2027, though he knows the team: he was in its 2020 squad. Housley, 29, spent this season with RideRevolution, the team champions in our 2026 rankings, after a year with Primera–TeamJobs. He was third at the Timmy James Memorial Grand Prix, fifth at the East Cleveland Classic and sixth at the Riders Collective GP, and second on the opening stage of the Ronde van Wymeswold. He wants to help the team’s younger riders, and is “looking forward to leading a strong squad into Nat A races in 2027”.
Juniors
Watts Occurring Racing have now named all six riders in their first squad. Harry Cooper and Sam Farquhar were in our last edition, and the team has since added Hedd Griffiths (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 19 October), Matt Holmes (Mid Devon Cycling Club to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 19 October), Talan Jones (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 20 October) and Cameron Reeves (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 20 October). Griffiths, Jones and Reeves are all on Welsh Cycling’s youth academy. Reeves won the August round of the national youth circuit series at Wyke, and Griffiths was third in the under-16 open category at the second round of the National Youth Omnium at Herne Hill in April. Holmes, from Devon, and Cooper are the two riders from outside Maindy.
Ollie Swinburn (Prologue Racing Team, staying, confirmed 20 October) is the first rider Prologue Racing Team have kept for 2027, joining the four new juniors already named: Lewis Anderson, Will Baldie, Felix Boyle and James Hardisty.
All of the moves above are on Mercato 2027, our tracker of transfers and rider moves, and the domestic moves are in our 2027 team guides for women’s and men’s teams. If you missed it, the last edition had Lily Martin and Katie Scott’s moves to CAMS Alba and April Tacey’s to Smurfit Westrock.
Noémie Thomson, who started 2025 as a fourth-category club rider, has signed a two-year contract with AG Insurance–Soudal and will race in the Women’s WorldTour from next season. She won the Women’s CiCLE Classic for DAS–Hutchinson in March, and follows Robyn Clay, who made the same step from the team to the WorldTour last winter.
At home, Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team have signed Evie Smith, a junior world team pursuit champion last year, and Karlijn Koops, both from O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes. CAMS Alba add Elena Day from Smurfit Westrock and Mabli Phillips, the British junior road race champion, and Solas Race Team keep Isla Easto and Jess Bufton. Josh Housley returns to Team PB Performance, two more Cycling Sheffield riders are bound for France, and Watts Occurring Racing have named all six riders in their first junior squad.
Drop us a line at info@thebritishcontinental.co.uk if you have news you want us to add.
Britons abroad
Noémie Thomson (DAS–Hutchinson to AG Insurance–Soudal, confirmed 21 October) is 23 and has signed a two-year contract with the Belgian WorldTeam, to the end of 2028. Her first race was a club time trial in 2024. She began 2025 as a fourth-category rider with Southborough & District Wheelers, won the Florrie Newbery Classic in her first road race that April, and joined DAS–Hutchinson in July after a month with its development team. By the end of that season she had been second at the GP Eibar, a UCI .Pro race, as she told us in our interview with her last December. This year she won the Women’s CiCLE Classic, the opening round of the Rapha Super-League, and was second at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. “It’s a dream come true to be joining AG Insurance–Soudal and stepping up to the WorldTour,” she said. Robyn Clay made the same step last winter, from DAS–Hutchinson to Team Picnic PostNL.
Alex Foster (Cycling Sheffield to Team Deux-Sèvres, confirmed 21 October) is the first rider the French N3 club has signed for 2027. Foster, 21, has spent three seasons with Cycling Sheffield, and this year won the Danum Trophy and was fourth at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. Joshua Horsfield (Cycling Sheffield, leaving for France, confirmed 20 October) is also going to France, the team said on 20 October, though his club has not been named. Horsfield, 25, joined from Reflex Nopinz RT this season and was eighth overall at the Sherpa Performance Stage Race in August. They follow Denholm Edwards, whose move to another N3 club, VCA Saint-Quentin, was in our 19 October edition.
SCO Dijon have confirmed the retirement of Farley Barber (SCO Dijon, retiring), which he announced himself on 8 October. Our 13 October edition said he joined the club midway through 2025; he joined in 2024, and we have corrected it.
Domestic
Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team have taken two more riders from O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes. Karlijn Koops (O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes to Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, confirmed 20 October) is 23 and Dutch, and follows her compatriot Maaike Brandwagt from O’Shea to Smurfit Westrock. She joined O’Shea this season after riding for Hess Cycling Team in 2025.
Evie Smith (O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes to Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, confirmed 21 October) is the third rider Smurfit Westrock have signed from O’Shea for 2027, after Maaike Brandwagt and Karlijn Koops. Smith, 18, from Huddersfield, rode for Shibden Apex RT as a junior. In 2025 she was in the Great Britain team pursuit squad that won the European and world junior titles, setting a junior world record on the way. In her first senior season she was eighth at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix and second at the Witham Hall Grand Prix. Arabella Blackburn, her team-mate at Shibden and in that pursuit squad, is staying with Alba, which races as CAMS Alba next year. Smith is the fourth British rider among Smurfit Westrock’s 10 new names for 2027.
CAMS Alba have added two more. Elena Day (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team to CAMS Alba, confirmed 20 October) is 21 and leaves Smurfit Westrock after one season, having joined from Loughborough Lightning, where she spent two. She was 10th at the CiCLE Classic in March and 11th at the North Yorkshire Grand Prix in August, and won the Duncan Murray Wines Road Race in 2025.
Mabli Phillips (Shibden Apex RT to CAMS Alba, confirmed 21 October) is the third rider from Shibden Apex RT, which closes at the end of the year, to name a 2027 team. Phillips, 18, won the junior national road race above Harrogate in July. Megan Cherry had been clear alone for almost three laps, and Phillips caught her on the final lap and rode away. Phillips also won the Women’s Tour of Mendip in August and was sixth at the Clásica de Jaén junior Nations Cup in February. She moves up to U23 with Alba next season.
That makes 13 riders for CAMS Alba in 2027: nine staying and four new.
Isla Easto (Solas Race Team, staying, confirmed 20 October) and Jess Bufton (Solas Race Team, staying, confirmed 21 October) join Harriet Hendry, whose re-signing was in our last edition, in the Scottish team’s Development Team for 2027. Easto, 19, has raced for Solas since August 2024, when she joined from JRC-Interflon Race Team. Bufton, 18, joined Solas in June from Velotik Development Academy, and was seventh at the Scottish road race championships in August and 11th at the Women’s Tour of Mendip.
Josh Housley (RideRevolution Coaching CT to Team PB Performance, confirmed 20 October) is the first new rider Team PB Performance have named for 2027, though he knows the team: he was in its 2020 squad. Housley, 29, spent this season with RideRevolution, the team champions in our 2026 rankings, after a year with Primera–TeamJobs. He was third at the Timmy James Memorial Grand Prix, fifth at the East Cleveland Classic and sixth at the Riders Collective GP, and second on the opening stage of the Ronde van Wymeswold. He wants to help the team’s younger riders, and is “looking forward to leading a strong squad into Nat A races in 2027”.
Juniors
Watts Occurring Racing have now named all six riders in their first squad. Harry Cooper and Sam Farquhar were in our last edition, and the team has since added Hedd Griffiths (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 19 October), Matt Holmes (Mid Devon Cycling Club to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 19 October), Talan Jones (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 20 October) and Cameron Reeves (Maindy Flyers to Watts Occurring Racing, confirmed 20 October). Griffiths, Jones and Reeves are all on Welsh Cycling’s youth academy. Reeves won the August round of the national youth circuit series at Wyke, and Griffiths was third in the under-16 open category at the second round of the National Youth Omnium at Herne Hill in April. Holmes, from Devon, and Cooper are the two riders from outside Maindy.
Ollie Swinburn (Prologue Racing Team, staying, confirmed 20 October) is the first rider Prologue Racing Team have kept for 2027, joining the four new juniors already named: Lewis Anderson, Will Baldie, Felix Boyle and James Hardisty.
All of the moves above are on Mercato 2027, our tracker of transfers and rider moves, and the domestic moves are in our 2027 team guides for women’s and men’s teams. If you missed it, the last edition had Lily Martin and Katie Scott’s moves to CAMS Alba and April Tacey’s to Smurfit Westrock.
Featured image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
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