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IT’S THE MTB NEWS DAVE
SPLOSH: Surprise as Thibaut Dapréla leaves the Canyon Collectiv just over two months after joining. Refresher: January 5, Dapréla thanked Commencal Muc-Off for six years on the team; the day before, out of the blue, he and Canyon had announced his signing. On Thursday this week, Dapréla made a brief statement on his Instagram, saying, ‘…it’s been decided mutually to end my partnership with Canyon Factory Racing’. Canyon has stated that it is ‘no longer [Dapréla’s] official bike sponsor’, but Dapréla spoke to the excellent Vojo Mag on Friday and said that he’ll be racing as a privateer on a Canyon Sender with many of the same components he’s been using since January. In explaining his departure from Commencal and what’s happened since, Dapréla said, ‘Unfortunately, following the announcement that I had joined the Canyon CLLCTV team, the problems began because clearly people who knew perfectly my athletic capacities didn’t at all appreciate the fact that I [would be riding] for Canyon. From that point on, there was a clear attempt to destroy me.’ Read Vojo’s full interview with Dapréla here.
INTERLUDE: Escape Collective reports that the UCI is fining notorious road cycling team manager Patrick Lefevere 20,000 Swiss Francs for sexist comments. The UCI has an ethics commission whose duty is to investigate any reports of potential misconduct by UCI license holders and officials (including national federation representatives, team managers and riders); the committee has the authority to impose sanctions. Read the UCI Code of Ethics here and its Safeguarding Policy here. Fun anecdote: The majority of racers dropped out of a recent road race when anti-doping officers showed up. There’s nothing to see here gouverner.
CALENDARS: The UCI MTB World Series enduro qualifier events calendar has been published (scroll down the page then click on the calendar download in the Resources section – not the link in the Athlete Hub), with the next scheduled race on 23 March in Israel. Keen eyes might notice that the Haute-Savoie race is on 28-30 June, presumably answering last week’s question about the order of events for the Haute-Savoie World Cup Festival (EDR weekend 1, DH/XC weekend 2). Talking of the elite races, we’re looking forward to the first EDR on 10-12 May right on the doorstep of our Finale Work Space in Finale Ligure, Italy. In case anyone’s wondering whether the race will be in Finale or neighbouring Pietra Ligure (like last year), the MTB World Series event page confirms the event will be based out of Finale’s main beachfront plaza – good times and many aperitives ahead.
INDUSTRY: Who said there’s no money in racing? Pinkbike reports from Taipei that Gates Carbon Drive (maker of the belt drive used by Zerode and Gamux) is offering $100,000 to the first elite racer to win a DH World Cup using their system in 2024. The Santa Cruz Syndicate will use OneUp cockpits in 2024 – and the Canadian brand used the announcement (well, the PB comments section) to acknowledge that Dutch conglomerate PON Holdings – the owner of Santa Cruz, Cannondale, Schwinn, Focus, GT, Cervélo, Mongoose, etc. – has invested in the company. Anyway, OneUp has created free poster downloads with photographer supremo Sterling Lorence to celebrate the Syndicate announcement – very cool!
RACING: It’s all going on in New Zealand. Crankworx Rotorua kicks off its nine-day festival of amateur and pro events with the RockShox Taniwha DH this weekend – you’ll need to set the alarm to watch the live broadcast on Red Bull TV this Sunday. Red Bull will also broadcast Speed and Style, Dual Slalom, Pump Track, and Slopestyle on March 22-23. Full event details and broadcast links here. Don’t miss the opportunity to play the new Race Companion fantasy league too (cough – you might notice our logos on the website – cough). Good news for Canadian MTB World Cup fans as the entire Whoops UCI Mountain Bike World Series will be broadcast on the subscription streaming platform FloBikes, with all races viewable for a monthly or annual fee.
GRIT: Morgane ‘Mojo’ Jonnier and James Eves won the dreamy six-day Yeti Trans NZ Enduro at the start of the month. In this week’s NZ MTB Rally, Rae Morrison and Matthew Fairbrother took the wins (get well soon Mojo). But there’s more to that last result than meets the eye: Fairbrother, known for his endurance feats, shunned the shuttles, heli uplifts and boat rides to pedal and kayak his way around the entire event and win the overall by over 2.5 minutes. Nuts. Elsewhere in New Zealand, Ben Hildred recently pedalled the equivalent of Olympus Mons, a volcano on Mars, in less than three days – 21,900m of climbing and descending and 448km distance in 60 hours. If that ain’t enduro, we don’t know what is. Heal up soon Myriam Nicole – the downhill star just had a surgery to fix a thumb ligament. We hope to see her back on the bike for the opening DH World Cup this 3-5 May in Fort William, Scotland. Talking of enduro, is someone working on a new international series?
