Commonwealth Games medallist Michaela Drummond has shed "tears of absolute joy" after finally gaining a release from the Spanish cycling team she feared could impact her career for the worse.
Drummond spoke to 1News earlier this week about her experience with Zaaf - a new Spanish professional cycling team initially filled with talented female athletes - that was supposed to be her "big break" but instead became a nightmare.
The 25-year-old had found a way to get out of her current blight in joining a different, smaller Spanish team - Farto BTC - but she needed approval from the Spanish Cycling Federation to race for them and was still chasing it.
This morning Drummond revealed she finally got there although she didn't confirm if Farto BTC is indeed her new home.
"I can finally race for my new team next week, tears of absolute joy," she wrote on Twitter.
"Thank you all for the unbelievable amount of support this last week. Such an incredible cycling community."
Drummond's issues at Zaaf centred around the team's finances with salaries not being paid, leaving the Kiwi and other cyclists struggling to pay for food and rent.
As a track cyclist with Cycling New Zealand Drummond was lucky — she had funding to keep her going, but some of her other teammates were less fortunate and one by one riders left, meaning the team didn't meet the minimum rider requirement from UCI and has all but been disbanded.
"It's Olympics next year, this is going to effect my career," Drummond told 1News earlier this week.
"I really thought this was my big break, and now that it's kind of gone it does make me question what the next years look like."
Thankfully, that outlook is looking up with Paris just on the horizon.
SHARE ME