Getting off piste a bit here guys…… come on now, get back on track. TEAM RUMORS. Not what you’d like to happen, but what you’ve heard or seen. people testing other bike brands. keep a eye out on your local trails.
Izabela Yankova the junior female rider is racing on her own for this year. Emilie is retiring and Pivot team might have an open spot…Izabela has very good times, she proved that her times are up with the elite girls and with factory support she can achieve great results. I would love to see a rider from eastern Europe riding for a factory team. This rumor is based on insta stories
) nothing serious but definitely Izabela is a future star.
The fact that no team has signed her up yet is surprising.
I think it would be fantastic if the RockShox Trek team picked her up as they don't have a junior female rider at the moment and she'd be hanging out with riders her age (Ethan Shandro, Tegan Cruz) and getting some mentoring from someone with a very similar start to her career in Vali Höll.
Izabela Yankova the junior female rider is racing on her own for this year. Emilie is retiring and Pivot team might have an open spot…Izabela has...
Izabela Yankova the junior female rider is racing on her own for this year. Emilie is retiring and Pivot team might have an open spot…Izabela has very good times, she proved that her times are up with the elite girls and with factory support she can achieve great results. I would love to see a rider from eastern Europe riding for a factory team. This rumor is based on insta stories
) nothing serious but definitely Izabela is a future star.
Thanks for all these interviews!!! Didn’t know that she studies programming. Computer science is very common in eastern Europe. I studied the same. Like I said…she is on fire. Fingers crossed and let’s hope that she will get a spot in a factory team. Good luck to all riders for the last rounds.
This is sad to hear, as watching her race is awesome, but I'm glad she knows what she needs to do. Being able to make the call reveals the remarkable strength and intelligence of an all time great racer. Hope she comes back stronger!
Can’t see much a reason for luca to change or Santa to drop luca. Maybe if he was joining trek along jolanda but they seem to be pretty stocked on riders atm.
I know Reece is on an extension from winning world champs. (Unsure if one year or more). Beyond his racing skills he absolutely has killed it this year in building his brand. Can’t think of anyone who has done a better job as a current champion (either worlds or overall) in being an ambassador for the sport. Dude absolutely deserves a serious paycheck. Can trek afford loris, vali, jolanda, and reece. Or is reece going to be moving on to be the face of someone else.
Can’t see much a reason for luca to change or Santa to drop luca. Maybe if he was joining trek along jolanda but they seem to...
Can’t see much a reason for luca to change or Santa to drop luca. Maybe if he was joining trek along jolanda but they seem to be pretty stocked on riders atm.
I know Reece is on an extension from winning world champs. (Unsure if one year or more). Beyond his racing skills he absolutely has killed it this year in building his brand. Can’t think of anyone who has done a better job as a current champion (either worlds or overall) in being an ambassador for the sport. Dude absolutely deserves a serious paycheck. Can trek afford loris, vali, jolanda, and reece. Or is reece going to be moving on to be the face of someone else.
Agree. Luca is young and a top 10/podium threat when he puts a run together. Him and Finn are very similar in that way. How long was Rat on SC and nearly scratched the top 20 for years and then BAM, wins the world Cup season. Syndicate seems to play the long game with athletes that stick with them.
Agree. Luca is young and a top 10/podium threat when he puts a run together. Him and Finn are very similar in that way. How long...
Agree. Luca is young and a top 10/podium threat when he puts a run together. Him and Finn are very similar in that way. How long was Rat on SC and nearly scratched the top 20 for years and then BAM, wins the world Cup season. Syndicate seems to play the long game with athletes that stick with them.
Totally agree. I also think he's had some serious bad luck this season. He looked on serious form when he had the chain issue at windrock and a rough crash/injury. He looked good at Les Gets and then the rain. It's been an odd season. I wouldn't be doing anything too drastic if I was a team
I thought Sik Mik may retire this year. Such a lovely guy with time for anyone and a true competitor, dedicated till the end.
I remember him charging hard on a welded up Santa Cruz at Sierra Nevada as a junior, like a beast! So many good memories.
Shame he won't be at the races, but good luck and I hope the good times are there for him he deserves it. Especially the time with the loved ones!
A true legend, thanks for the dedication to our sport Mik and not just being a great sports man but a great great human.
Here's the full post on Sik Mik's retirement via his team:
After an incredible 20 years of racing, the legend of our sports Sick Mick Hannah announces that his last World Cup will be this weekend in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Mick’s first elite mountain bike race was in Maribor in 2001 where he finished 6th! He stood on the UCI World Cup podium 17 times with one victory, scored 3 medals at World Championships and 16 Crankworx medals!
Here are Mick’s words:
“The time has come to announce that I’m retiring from World Cup racing. This is a moment that I’ve contemplated many times over the course of my life. So many thoughts and ideas have passed through my imagination in the long hours I’ve spent on any number of bikes. I’ve contemplated questions like “When is the right time?”, “am I going to be at the top of my game?”, “Am I going to have a career ending injury?”, “Does anyone aside from myself care?”, “Does it change my life if anyone cares or not?”. Mostly, these questions and many others are irrelevant. They’re fun to talk about and ponder with friends and mentors and they’re a great way to help us learn about ourselves, but they are not that important really. They go along well with one question I get a lot which is “How do you stay that motivated for 20 years?”. I don’t know the answer to that. I have just had a passion for going fast on a bike and set goals and worked hard to achieve them and now 20 years have passed. It has been more incredible than I could’ve imagined. It’s also been harder than I could’ve imagined. The highs and lows are huge.
Sometimes I’ve felt motivated by my own selfish desire to win. Sometimes I’ve struggled to drag myself out of bed due to my struggles with anxiety and lack of belief in my own value. Sometimes I’ve been motivated by the need to financially support my family. Sometimes I am in that sweet place of just being joyful in the moment. Mostly though I am motivated by my desire to fulfill my potential as a man created in the image of God.
I have achieved some seemingly (to me) impossible things from the perspective of a 15 year old kid working on a banana farm. I’ll never forget getting the call while I was at work saying I was going to world championships in 2000. Just getting to be at that race was impossible for me to believe. How could I have imagined all I’ve been blessed with since then?
I have also missed out on the one big goal I’ve had since I was 7 years old. The first time I finished 2nd at the World Championships was in 1994. I was 10 years old and the community we lived in raised the money for my Dad and I to go to the USA. When I got 2nd I felt like I had failed. 23 years after that I finished 2nd at the World Championships in my hometown. How sweet that would’ve been to win! It would’ve been nice for me, but I wanted to win for everyone who’s ever invested energy into my life. I have been loved so well by so many people.
The process of stepping away is a tough one. I’m already going through quite the emotional rollercoaster. I miss racing at this level very deeply already and I’m not even done yet. It’s a similar feeling to leaving my loved ones for extended periods of time. I will always look back on my professional racing career with love. The people who’ve walked with me and supported me have made it all possible and worthwhile. My Dad said quite early on that if I wanted to keep racing I had to start training. I made that decision without hesitation and my Dad and Mum and family and friends and acquaintances too many to number have all poured into my life since then in ways that I could never repay. I’ve got to see the world many times over and ride my bike in the most amazing places and some not so amazing places and conditions haha. I have met so many incredible people. I fell in love with the mountain bike culture from the first day and I’ve now seen that that culture is the same all over the world across all the countries, cultures and languages that I’ve got to experience.
I love this sport. I love the people I get to share it with. It’s humbling to have had this experience. I am hopeful that there is an opportunity for me to stay involved in the mountain bike world. You are my extended family.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to all of my sponsors. You guys have provided for me and my family and given us a wonderful life for the last 20 years. Thank you to the UR Team. You guys have provided a competitive racing environment for half of my career. Fabien, you have put so much work and passion into the team and stayed behind me through all the ups and downs of racing. Magalie, thank you for all the time you spend behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly as well as the passion you also have for the team and racing in general. Thanks to my mechanic of the last 8 years, Jon Stout. You have shown amazing work ethic and passion for your role. You are always calm, especially when I am not. It still puts a smile on my face each time I get to feel how good my bike is after you’ve worked your magic. Thank you to my competitors. The skill and dedication that you have all shown to our sport and the sportsmanship you have demonstrated to me adds an incredible amount of value to all I’ve achieved.
Thank you to my friends for seeing my heart. Thank you to Tracey for all she teaches me and for being on the road with me the last 10 years. Thank you to my wife, Kimberly. I never want to do life without you. I love you! Thank you to my family. Our parents have never put limits on our dreams and they’ve worked endlessly to support us. It would be impossible to calculate how many hours Dad has spent driving me up to the top of downhill tracks or road riding with me. We’ve laughed, cried, fought, agreed and disagreed and there is no way I would have achieved so much without him.
Lastly, thank you to all the fans for making this all possible. I hope you’ve found some inspiration and joy through supporting me. I’ve certainly been blessed by all the excited faces! It’s been an incredible ride.”
“It has been an honor to be such a big part of Mick’s career with the UR team, from day one it has been about trusting each other and it paid off for both of us. As a team, Mick trusted that our young team would allow him to reach the top which clearly helped us to become a true professional team so I’ll be forever thankful for that. From our side we have always trusted that after any setback Mick would be able to come back to the podium and he did it many times like a champ. We were thrilled watching so many tight racing, so many no handers and so many good memories around the globe. It’s a hard decision when you are a racer at hearth like Mick but I think he has taken the right decision being able to race his last world cup in front of his whole family and fans he loves, so I’d say still watch out for Sick Mick as he can one more time remind us why he is a legend of our sports!” - Fabien Cousinie, UR team owner
I thought Sik Mik may retire this year. Such a lovely guy with time for anyone and a true competitor, dedicated till the end.
I remember...
I thought Sik Mik may retire this year. Such a lovely guy with time for anyone and a true competitor, dedicated till the end.
I remember him charging hard on a welded up Santa Cruz at Sierra Nevada as a junior, like a beast! So many good memories.
Shame he won't be at the races, but good luck and I hope the good times are there for him he deserves it. Especially the time with the loved ones!
A true legend, thanks for the dedication to our sport Mik and not just being a great sports man but a great great human.
Couldn't agree more. Such a genuinely awesome guy, and a complete badarse on a bike. Something we all should aspire to.
I was thinking about something yesterday watching Dialed. Sure Greg just won a world champs. That he is fast is NOT a question anybody should be asking. But how many seasons are still left in him? At what point will he say 'sod this', even if he is still fast? The man is turning 40 in a few weeks, props to him for just chugging along, let alone actually winning _THE_ race of the year. But it's an inevitable thing.
What does SCS do at that point? With Loris off to Trek, who will be the main man of the team?
(and I just saw Greg is out with an injury, though Luca qualified 3rd...)
I'm not talking if, neither am I talking 'when will he retire'. I'm saying what is the SCS plan for when he does retire, as the fact that he will retire is inevitable.
At a guess, they will look at what talent (or emerging talent) is out there and sign them up. Same as every team will do when someone moves away from the team.
I am sure, like other teams, they will have good relationships with riders already and have a 'wish list'. I am sure that there will be a new rider with them next season.
Will all come down to when Greg retires (or moves on?). If it is a planned thing (rather than stopping because of injury), then it may be done to coincide with a favoured rider coming to the end of their contract with their existing team.
My money is on charlie Harrisson, for scs.
But i think it will be some time before he(edit: the goat) is done, or when scs dont want to pay his check. He will be a value for the Brand for a looong time.
On the UCI WC Snowshoe #1 broadcast it was brought up that Jacob Dickson from the Giant Factory team will be looking for a new ride for 2022. Will Giant fill the spot, and if so who?
On the UCI WC Snowshoe #1 broadcast it was brought up that Jacob Dickson from the Giant Factory team will be looking for a new ride...
On the UCI WC Snowshoe #1 broadcast it was brought up that Jacob Dickson from the Giant Factory team will be looking for a new ride for 2022. Will Giant fill the spot, and if so who?
I think it would be fantastic if the RockShox Trek team picked her up as they don't have a junior female rider at the moment and she'd be hanging out with riders her age (Ethan Shandro, Tegan Cruz) and getting some mentoring from someone with a very similar start to her career in Vali Höll.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/RESULTS-World-Cup-Downhill-Lenzerhei…
nina —> syndicate 80%
laurie —> mondracker 50%
luca —> off syndicate 90%
I know Reece is on an extension from winning world champs. (Unsure if one year or more). Beyond his racing skills he absolutely has killed it this year in building his brand. Can’t think of anyone who has done a better job as a current champion (either worlds or overall) in being an ambassador for the sport. Dude absolutely deserves a serious paycheck. Can trek afford loris, vali, jolanda, and reece. Or is reece going to be moving on to be the face of someone else.
Mik Hannah Retires
I remember him charging hard on a welded up Santa Cruz at Sierra Nevada as a junior, like a beast! So many good memories.
Shame he won't be at the races, but good luck and I hope the good times are there for him he deserves it. Especially the time with the loved ones!
A true legend, thanks for the dedication to our sport Mik and not just being a great sports man but a great great human.
After an incredible 20 years of racing, the legend of our sports Sick Mick Hannah announces that his last World Cup will be this weekend in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Mick’s first elite mountain bike race was in Maribor in 2001 where he finished 6th! He stood on the UCI World Cup podium 17 times with one victory, scored 3 medals at World Championships and 16 Crankworx medals!
Here are Mick’s words:
“The time has come to announce that I’m retiring from World Cup racing. This is a moment that I’ve contemplated many times over the course of my life. So many thoughts and ideas have passed through my imagination in the long hours I’ve spent on any number of bikes. I’ve contemplated questions like “When is the right time?”, “am I going to be at the top of my game?”, “Am I going to have a career ending injury?”, “Does anyone aside from myself care?”, “Does it change my life if anyone cares or not?”. Mostly, these questions and many others are irrelevant. They’re fun to talk about and ponder with friends and mentors and they’re a great way to help us learn about ourselves, but they are not that important really. They go along well with one question I get a lot which is “How do you stay that motivated for 20 years?”. I don’t know the answer to that. I have just had a passion for going fast on a bike and set goals and worked hard to achieve them and now 20 years have passed. It has been more incredible than I could’ve imagined. It’s also been harder than I could’ve imagined. The highs and lows are huge.
Sometimes I’ve felt motivated by my own selfish desire to win. Sometimes I’ve struggled to drag myself out of bed due to my struggles with anxiety and lack of belief in my own value. Sometimes I’ve been motivated by the need to financially support my family. Sometimes I am in that sweet place of just being joyful in the moment. Mostly though I am motivated by my desire to fulfill my potential as a man created in the image of God.
I have achieved some seemingly (to me) impossible things from the perspective of a 15 year old kid working on a banana farm. I’ll never forget getting the call while I was at work saying I was going to world championships in 2000. Just getting to be at that race was impossible for me to believe. How could I have imagined all I’ve been blessed with since then?
I have also missed out on the one big goal I’ve had since I was 7 years old. The first time I finished 2nd at the World Championships was in 1994. I was 10 years old and the community we lived in raised the money for my Dad and I to go to the USA. When I got 2nd I felt like I had failed. 23 years after that I finished 2nd at the World Championships in my hometown. How sweet that would’ve been to win! It would’ve been nice for me, but I wanted to win for everyone who’s ever invested energy into my life. I have been loved so well by so many people.
The process of stepping away is a tough one. I’m already going through quite the emotional rollercoaster. I miss racing at this level very deeply already and I’m not even done yet. It’s a similar feeling to leaving my loved ones for extended periods of time. I will always look back on my professional racing career with love. The people who’ve walked with me and supported me have made it all possible and worthwhile. My Dad said quite early on that if I wanted to keep racing I had to start training. I made that decision without hesitation and my Dad and Mum and family and friends and acquaintances too many to number have all poured into my life since then in ways that I could never repay. I’ve got to see the world many times over and ride my bike in the most amazing places and some not so amazing places and conditions haha. I have met so many incredible people. I fell in love with the mountain bike culture from the first day and I’ve now seen that that culture is the same all over the world across all the countries, cultures and languages that I’ve got to experience.
I love this sport. I love the people I get to share it with. It’s humbling to have had this experience. I am hopeful that there is an opportunity for me to stay involved in the mountain bike world. You are my extended family.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to all of my sponsors. You guys have provided for me and my family and given us a wonderful life for the last 20 years. Thank you to the UR Team. You guys have provided a competitive racing environment for half of my career. Fabien, you have put so much work and passion into the team and stayed behind me through all the ups and downs of racing. Magalie, thank you for all the time you spend behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly as well as the passion you also have for the team and racing in general. Thanks to my mechanic of the last 8 years, Jon Stout. You have shown amazing work ethic and passion for your role. You are always calm, especially when I am not. It still puts a smile on my face each time I get to feel how good my bike is after you’ve worked your magic. Thank you to my competitors. The skill and dedication that you have all shown to our sport and the sportsmanship you have demonstrated to me adds an incredible amount of value to all I’ve achieved.
Thank you to my friends for seeing my heart. Thank you to Tracey for all she teaches me and for being on the road with me the last 10 years. Thank you to my wife, Kimberly. I never want to do life without you. I love you! Thank you to my family. Our parents have never put limits on our dreams and they’ve worked endlessly to support us. It would be impossible to calculate how many hours Dad has spent driving me up to the top of downhill tracks or road riding with me. We’ve laughed, cried, fought, agreed and disagreed and there is no way I would have achieved so much without him.
Lastly, thank you to all the fans for making this all possible. I hope you’ve found some inspiration and joy through supporting me. I’ve certainly been blessed by all the excited faces! It’s been an incredible ride.”
“It has been an honor to be such a big part of Mick’s career with the UR team, from day one it has been about trusting each other and it paid off for both of us. As a team, Mick trusted that our young team would allow him to reach the top which clearly helped us to become a true professional team so I’ll be forever thankful for that. From our side we have always trusted that after any setback Mick would be able to come back to the podium and he did it many times like a champ. We were thrilled watching so many tight racing, so many no handers and so many good memories around the globe. It’s a hard decision when you are a racer at hearth like Mick but I think he has taken the right decision being able to race his last world cup in front of his whole family and fans he loves, so I’d say still watch out for Sick Mick as he can one more time remind us why he is a legend of our sports!” - Fabien Cousinie, UR team owner
Btw, in an odd set of coincidences, he seems to be the only athlete to medal at an elite mtb World Champs event every 4 years (2009, 2013, 2017).
I wish him the best of luck in this next chapter of his life. I certainly hope he stays in the MTB industry somehow.
What does SCS do at that point? With Loris off to Trek, who will be the main man of the team?
(and I just saw Greg is out with an injury, though Luca qualified 3rd...)
EDIT: Injuries aside.
I am sure, like other teams, they will have good relationships with riders already and have a 'wish list'. I am sure that there will be a new rider with them next season.
Will all come down to when Greg retires (or moves on?). If it is a planned thing (rather than stopping because of injury), then it may be done to coincide with a favoured rider coming to the end of their contract with their existing team.
But i think it will be some time before he(edit: the goat) is done, or when scs dont want to pay his check. He will be a value for the Brand for a looong time.
Minaar as the stalwart, the wise yoda that he is
A fast AF dude like Benoit
A young ratboy-esque talent such as Pene
An international hotpot of talent. Just spitballing here.
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