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A reliable source told me he'll be on a half $x xxx xxx$ contract with YT industries
Gwin-?
Matt Walker-Cube?
Jacob Dickson-?
Laurie Greenland-?
Brannigan-Commencal?
Bruni-?
Vergier-?
Finn-?
Possibly Dean Lucas?
Am I missing anyone else?
As far as TeamRumors go, KTM is an Austrian brand, neighboring country to Germany and a Deutsch speaking country.
Now I'm sure a smaller brand like YT can throw all chips in and create a program, but there are only a few brands I can imagine to have more money to invest in their racing programs than Specialized, and survive. Especially as Big S has shown many times previous that they are not afraid to display big numbers on salaries with Palmer, Cavendish, and Gwin. Those feasible brands in my eyes are Giant, Santa Cruz, Nukeproof, and GT/Dorel.
-Giant in my mind is the most likely as they are lacking in luster for their DH department since Hart won World Champs. Don't get me wrong tho, Marcelo is one of my fav riders and I LOVE watching him attempt to rip off handlebars, he has been putting in SOLID results, and he is an incredible nice guy. In fact, a Gwin / Marcelo duo would be my go to for routing-on on Sunday. (Or is it Saturday now, wtf?)
-SC isn't likely as they already have an All-Star team, and the race pits would be a little awkward with Gwin, the Jesus loving straight-edge, hanging with the likes of a Doped-up Rat(ratty2016!), Gracia, Peaty and Minnaar. I'm sure they all get along on a professional level, but I picture Gwin's parties to be more like Richard Bagg's annual social vs Van Wilder's KY-infused titty-fests.
-Nukeproof has Sam. Who else do you need?
- GT/Dorel has already released a large team roster, with some fairly heavy-hitters. Not likely they will do conduct a special ceremony just for Gwin.
I'm curious to see if Canyon or YT can make it work. I just don't see YT being big enough, or having the right brand image for what Gwin is pursuing. I guess I dont I have a real grasp of how big Canyon is, but maybe they do have the funds to pull it off. Only time will tell.
Trek moved it's race team in house so Whitley has had something in the works this whole time.
So @general lee , if I put two and two together, Whitley has developed a third generation reboot team. That usually means he has an established alpha dog (possibly Gwin) in sites and a promising Alpha dog junior rider.
Whitley ran Greg M. through the Honda program, so there is the chance that Whitely has set up something for KTM and negotiated them signing Gwin. He'd be the logistic person that could make that program happen, but I have to assume Big House is still managing for Gwin on the contract side. I've never read specifically that Big House is his agent, but their friendship and both have such strong connections to moto that even Big House and Whitley could work together on something like that.
I could see Gwin signing on to a Whitley project with his own management handling his contract side.
How close am I?
Bruni- 100% / Specialized Confirmed
Vergier- 100% / Specialized Confirmed
Finn- 100% / Specialized Confirmed
Possibly Dean Lucas- Intense???
Yup. Anyone who suggests otherwise has no friggin' idea about team culture and how it works.
Canyon had the money to buy Claw, I know he's not winning the comps these days in terms of exposure and promotion value he's still worth a bit, Fabien Barel has just retired. It's a stretch but nothing seems to be following the script after the Gravy/Atherton movements.
(Gwin is already riding a KTM motor-bike on his free time)
I like your style sponger, secret agent shit
In all seriousness though...
You can definitely rule out all these smaller players (norco, radon, any other brand) because if Specialized can't afford him, these guys definitely can't. Well, I'm sure they could if they take a large enough chunk from their profits/cash, but it's definitely not worth it from a logistical 'corporate' viewpoint.
YT, Intense, KTM, or a partnership with Audi is probably the best speculation one could make. While the smaller companies may not have that money laying around, they can certainly scrounge it up for his paycheck and roll those dice. Gwin mentioned that it doesn't have to be the best bike out there, but definitely capable of winning(>> YT). The bigger brands can easily pay out but that would require more resources to gather up such a specialized team like the one Gwin is looking for. (no pun intended)
I wonder if theres beef between Graves and Gwin now. Graves is pretty much the only reason Specialized didn't have enough of a budget to afford him. Also, who is going to step into Gwin's spotlight once he leaves? Bruni?
I'm just thinking aloud now, but what if a powerhouse is born between the Lapierre boys and Gwin? (KTM)
How much do you guys think Gwin asked for? $450,000?
At the same time, moto and DH are so closely related... especially if they've already got him on their moto bikes anyway, why not put down some money to have him repping KTM in the DH side?
When customers cross over from DH to moto, (which several of my friends have done, although not me personally) they'd have already had some nice marketing exposure to KTM via Gwinn.
So while I agree it might be weird for Audi, for KTM it doesn't seem that out of left field to me.
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