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Most XCO riders would be contracted until the end of 2024 at least. 2024 is an Olympic year so riders don't want to move to a new team / bike / etc. while focusing on the 1 in every 4 years Olympic race.
I want to thank owl-x for putting it all in the simplest context possible.
Vegas odds on owl-x being right are favorable.
I got $10 on the exacta: padless rebel run and manufactured anti-establishment slow burn to angst ignition.
box it!
What is XCO?
xenolinguistics co-operative office
Most of the ‘bigger’ names who fall foul of a team insisting on a rubbish tyre sponsor have a clause in their contracts to state if there isn’t something ‘suitable’ from their sponsor, then it’s Team Sharpie all the way.
Quite a few times, by some sort of miracle, they don’t have anything suitable, so they run anything but their sponsors tyres 😆
How about?
Intense are pulling out of DH, so no longer supplying Gwin's team. Gwin's team will be supplied frames by Yeti in 2024 and 2025, rekindling Aaron's first team and almost coming full circle.
After all that work on the new DH bike and finally having a finished product for sale? I can't see them pulling out of DH racing now. Unless they have some new riders lined up.
were there ever any signs of Intense pulling out of DH? I'd imagine there would be indicators on IFR / Gwin's socials if that were the case. Dak also said in the last B practice pod that he's on the same program for next year. Idk just reading between the lines here
Gwin, Dak, a junior or up and comer and Ritchie... Murica. Seems like a recipe for success to that big US sponsors might be interested in.
Wouldn't be the first or last time Intense did something like that. They were the first to build a 29er DH bike a decade or so ago and Jeff promised the world to his riders with that bike and then pulled the plug........
speculation based off something that happened 10+ years ago.. I ain't buying it!
I have a feeling IFR may be done but Intense as a bike we will see raced under a different team. Just a hunch.
MS Mondraker to MS Intense?
I could see IFR disbanding. Breeden is a consistent semi finals guy, so he could likely find a smaller proveteer team to get on. Dak was pretty vocal about his disappointment with lack of testing, constant changes, and low pay. Add to the fact with a solid program he could be a top 5 guy and he would be silly not to take a stab at somewhere else. I could definitely see Gwin doing a few years under a privateer effort not unlike Neko. Find a frame he wants to ride and take his hoard of sponsors with him and let them foot the bill until it’s time to retire.
Privateer-someone who pays their own way. That's never gonna be Gwin. Guys a legend of the sport he'll be on a payroll for as long as he's around.
I thought Gwin owned a piece of IFR? I could definitely see Dak moving on, maybe even going to specialized replacing Finn.
Rumor shared w/ me is similar in context to what you're saying.
No one knows for sure until it's all announced.
Yes, Gwin is part owner of the IFR team. If he decided recently to buy out the other owner(s), it's not been announced. Can't see him doing that without someone like Vee providing him a way bigger paycheck than anything.
With GasGas coming into the moped segment, but not the MTB segment, it feels like we're on the brink of brand crossover team between a moto company and MTB company.
But...we've been on the brink of that for more than a decade & the closest I think we've gotten was Gwin getting the hook up on KTM and getting to race some of their enduro stuff out west.
We still have exactly ZERO pro moto/SX racers transitioning over to take any prize money or praise away from the sport.
What if Gwin divests from IFR?
That's my thought. They have been there before and Markus has love for Intense
Wiggle / Chain reaction cycles are entering administration, I wonder if this affects the enduro team plans
Being curious like I am, it would be interesting. A guy who posts on here educated me probably a decade ago of how you can "own" a part of a business, grow it and your "pay" simply be your percentage ownership. Can't remember the details, but over the years, he would help businesses in return for a percent ownership and a reduction in outright pay from the norm as part of his contract.
He sold off his interest as each company looked to make moves & benefitted financially that way.
Gwin's ownership interest always struck me as odd b/c the name of the team is Intense Factory Racing. So if he was shooting for an MS Racing style ownership, his ownership interest is dependent on Intense in some small part.
Unless the underlying ownership of the "team" is anmed something else entirely and they can just swap it to "RAAW Factory Racing" with no ownership interest...I'd think he'd sell his interest to go to another brand.
It would seem unquestionable that it does and would be quite surprising if any sort of race team exists next year supported by them.
It doesnt really matter what the trade name/DBA is. IFR could change to whatever team X Factory Racing if the board of the Corp that was setup wants it to. If Intense or partners in Intense hold some ownership stake in IFR...then things get sticky.
"growing your pay" as you exemplified it, only is true if/when you sell your stake or the company. IFR (or whatever the corp name) assets are basically the team value (based on profitability) and any material things owned by the team. Team value is dependent on the riders and marketing value they have which translates into how much the team can charge sponsors. If Dak leaves and is not replaced, IFR "value" goes down. If Gwin storms back and starts slaying, IFR value goes up. Point here being.....if Gwin divests/sold his share and is not racing for the team, unless the team is stacked with other valuable riders - IFR does not have much value. So why would someone invest in that by buying Gwin out?
IFR might be just the "show name" and could be DBA'd under something else.
Martin always had different teams, even when Gwin was with Trek it was Martin's team but went under TWR (Trek World Racing).
MS has always been a well run team and carried that name throughout different frame sponsors.
Am I correct that Specialized is not actually Specialized? Is that not the same team that was Lapierre?? I am old and have forgotten more than I care to admit.
Who knows? That is the fun of the rumor thread, keeps us busy when there aren't any races to follow.
Specialized's gravity DH team is run by the Pure agency.
Thanks!!! Again I am old and forget things, what were talking about again?
And it was in fact previously the Lapierre team. I think Troy mentioned in his PB podcast that for a year he was actually on Specialized factory racing team and Loic (and Loris at the time?) were on the Gravity team. Then when it was decided to spin down the factory team and move Troy to the Gravity team, he jumped ship to Canyon.
I thought gwin inked reupped with 3 year deal with intense somewhat recently or does time fly that fast
DJ Brant unfortunately off Nukeproof. Wonder what it means overall for them?
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