A-LIST CAST: This one’s come slightly out of the blue (well, we’ve been riding with Greg Callaghan quite a bit in the last 12 months, so we had an inkling). New component brand Cast has burst onto the scene with a superstar lineup of pro riders in attendance at its launch event in Lyon, France, last month. Greg Minnaar, Kriss Kyle, Danny MacAskill, Greg Callaghan, Caleb Holonko and Fabio Wibmer, among others, are representing the new brand. Or do they own it? Whoever’s funding the company is giving it serious welly.
Cast has already launched a line of handlebars, stems, grips and even a 24-inch trials tyre already and it seems likely to expand its range, mentioning enduro and downhill tyres in its press release. Interestingly, it seems it will be openly collaborating with other manufacturers, saying it aims to produce the ‘…highest quality, performance-driven products through our partnerships with athletes and close collaboration with industry-leaders such as Pirelli.’
GOLDEN DREAM: Last spring we mentioned the Hero Abu Dhabi XC race’s $150,000 prize money. More recently, in December 2024, cycling’s governing body, the UCI, held its Athlete Commission meeting in Abu Dhabi, with Minnaar on-site as the downhill representative. If you’re wondering what the Commission does, the UCI says its Commissions ‘are set up by the Management Committee to help it with its mission … Their task is to put strategic or regulatory propositions to the Management Committee concerning the specific discipline or field they are in charge of. Their role is defined in the respective terms of reference of the Commissions.’ Got it!
The summit coincided with the UCI unveiling ‘plans to establish a UCI branch in Abu Dhabi’, according to the Emirates News Agency. The agency quoted UCI president David Lappartient as saying, ‘The UAE has firmly established itself as a global hub for cycling sports [etc].’ The UCI Urban Cycling World Champs also took place in Abu Dhabi at the same time.
FLIPPING THE COIN: Sorry to keep banging on about him, but Minnaar really has been busy lately. In early December, the GOAT announced that he is ‘Thrilled to be a part of Thravos, where we’re reshaping the future of sports engagement!’ Er, Thrav-who? According to its website, ‘Thravos is revolutionizing the game for athletes with cutting-edge AI Agents and Tokenization.’ With that cleared up, we’re glad to hear the idea is to provide revenue to athletes through ‘in-app purchases’, ‘athletes’ tools’ and ‘tokenization fees’.
We’re not entirely sure what any of that means, but on a tangent Canadian freeride hero Brett Rheeder recently launched an athlete monetisation platform, Bookyrslf, where people can ‘Create and book sessions, virtual classes and interactive experiences’. Riders diversifying their income streams can only be a good thing. Bravo.
TEAMS UPDATE UPDATE: Following our roundup of team moves last week, there are several new and notable announcements. Loris Vergier is officially on Commencal Muc-Off, making the French-run team even more likely to dominate the downhill results sheets in 2025. Vergier joins the team’s elite ranks alongside Myriam Nicole, Dylan Maples and Amaury Pierron; Max and Till Alran will be representing in juniors. Vergier, Nicole and Pierron are all signed up for three years – Commencal is going big.
Also, Vergier was riding SRAM-RockShox in his deal announcement vid – a soft launch for the team’s new suspension sponsor (confirmed on Friday 24 Jan) after it recently said thank you and goodbye to long-term suspension supplier Fox. Slight tangent, but talking of Vergier, did he hack Commencal’s Instagram in December? And did Vital get done at the same time?
Briefly rounding out this segment, Raphaela Richter has sorted her own set of sponsors for the 2025 downhill and enduro season, with the ‘idea of putting together a bike with parts that are (mainly) locally produced’ in Germany, including CrossWorx Cycles frames. Meanwhile, the 2024 U21 Enduro World Cup series winner Simona Kuchynková has signed for the Cube Action Team – it’s good to hear about new factory deals in enduro.
XC-GNARLY: In recent weeks around our base and coworking space in Finale Ligure, we’ve spotted various pro riders and teams on the trails (and at our coworking space). We’re used to seeing downhill and enduro racers testing bikes and components on the Pino Morto track (rocky, fast, holes, sandy, stable conditions and quick shuttle turnaround) but now it’s cross-country teams at it too. If you needed any more confirmation how technical XC World Cup racing has become, just go and watch the world’s best smashing out downhill laps (then pedalling back up, naturally) with suspension telemetry systems setting things up for an epic 2025 race season.
END NOTE: A quick final note to congratulate Misspent Summers friend Lauren Jenkins, who has previously worked on our yearbooks, in her new role as editor at BikeBiz, the UK bike business news site. Nice work!
