Two years ago, new Columbia-HTC pro rider Evelyn Stevens was working hard in her career as a Wall Street broker. Then she got a bike.  "I started out doing a cyclo-cross event in Northern California after my sister, who's a cycling fan, invited me along," Stevens, 26, recalls. "Although I crashed a lot, I had a lot of fun, too.  Then I bought a proper bike and enjoyed that so much, I started racing."

Stevens quit her job on Wall Street in the summer of 2008 to focus on racing. As Stevens puts it, "It wasn't that I had decided to be a professional bike rider, but everything kept on falling into place that pointed me in that direction."  She won her first event shortly after taking part in her first race organized in Central Park NYC with the Century Road Club Association. And from then on, Stevens kept on raising her arms in victory at bigger and bigger events.  

In April 2009 she netted her first important stage race, the Tour of the Battenkill. Then she clinched the Fitchburg Lonsjo Classic in her home region of Massachusetts. Veteran Jeannie Longo, one of the most successful pro cyclists ever, finished third.
"Fitchburg was a key moment," recalls Stevens. "It made me think I could really do something with this."

But there were other key moments, too. Like when she took second place overall behind Columbia-HTC's Kim Anderson and a stage win in top European race, the Route de France.

In September she took part in her first World Championships road-race. "I had to pinch myself when I stood there on the start-line," Stevens recalls.   A few hours later, in one of the toughest ever World Championships courses, she'd finished an impressive 15th,  And a now she will be turning pro with Columbia-HTC.

The change in her life compared with two years ago, is she says, "dramatic.  That's one of the reasons why I'm so pleased to be signing with Columbia-HTC.  They've got a lot of experienced riders, like Ina [Teutenberg] and Kim [Anderson] and that's ideal. I know I've got to keep learning for now and I really believe I'm going to the best team to do that."