2012 UCI Elite Teams Announced

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has today announced the 15 “endurance” (Olympic cross-country) teams and 14 “gravity” (downhill and four-cross) teams that will race with the “UCI ELITE Mountain Bike” label in 2012.

These teams will benefit from numerous advantages: notably free entry at UCI Mountain Bike World Cup events and free entry for all races on the UCI Mountain Bike International Calendar. In return, they are obliged to enter at least one rider in all rounds of the 2012 UCI RockyRoads Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano and to display the UCI ELITE Mountain Bike Team logo on their race outfits and team vehicles.

The creation, in 2011, of a higher tier of mountain bike teams was well received and in addition stimulated competition between teams wishing to achieve the status of UCI ELITE Mountain Bike Team.

Invitations to join the Elite teams were issued to the top teams of a UCI ranking established on 26th September by adding up the UCI points of the best riders within each team. They had until 10th December to confirm their interest. A maximum of 15 of the top 20 ranked teams can feature on the list of UCI ELITE Mountain Bike Teams in their category.

Two teams, Trek World Racing and Ghost Factory Racing Team, will have the ELITE status in both the “endurance” and “gravity” categories in 2012.

The final list of the UCI ELITE Mountain Bike Teams for 2012, in ranking order, is:

Endurance:

• Specialized Racing Team (USA)
• Multivan Merida Biking Team (GER)
• Felt Oetztal X-Bionic Team (GER)
• Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team (NED)
• BH SR Suntour Peisey-Vallandry (FRA)
• Scott-Swisspower MTB Racing Team (SUI)
• Cannondale Factory Racing (GER)
• Subaru-Trek (USA)
• Orbea (ESP)
• Luna Pro Team (USA)
• Colnago Farbe Sudtirol (ITA)
• Topeak Ergon Racing Team (GER)
• CCC Polkowice (POL)
• Trek World Racing (ESP)
• Ghost Factory Racing Team (GER)

Gravity:

• Trek World Racing (ESP)
• Scott 11 (SUI)
• Santa Cruz Syndicate (USA)
• GT Bicycles (GBR)
• Giant Factory Off-road Team (USA)
• MS Mondraker Racing (AUT)
• Riding Addiction Commençal (FRA)
• Monster Energy / Specialized Factory Racing (USA)
• Lapierre International (FRA)
• Chain Reaction Cycles.com / Nukeproof (GBR)
• Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team (USA)
• Ghost Factory Racing Team (GER)
• Alpine Commençal Austria (AUT)
• Hutchinson United Ride (FRA)

Brian Lopes Signs With Magura

Multi Talented athlete Brian Lopes has partnered with Magura to meet his braking needs for 2012 and beyond. After hearing about the new MT Series brakes from Magura, Lopes contacted Magura last summer because he was looking for a disc brake that would meet his strong expectations and high standards and also hold up to the abuse that he dishes out on a daily basis. "Magura brakes have been on my radar for a while and after finally riding them I was definitely stoked at the weight and performance benefits they offered. Besides the fact that I have had no fade issues at all and they're stealthy quiet, they also have the best modulation I’ve ever experienced," says Lopes.

Lopes is riding the recently launched super light MT8, the first disc brake in the industry with a full carbon master cylinder, and the freeride optimized MT6 on which he has already ridden his Magura equipped Ibis to to some major wins including the Crankworx Whistler Enduro DH , Crankworx Colorado Rainmaker DH,  Crankworx Colorado Dual Slalom and the Llinars Spain DH where he set the new course record.

According to Jeff Enlow, General Manager of Magura USA,  “Everyone at Magura is super excited to be working with Brian for the upcoming season. Having an athlete like Brian Lopes racing on Magura really validates the design of the new MT Series brakes and gives us valuable testing and feedback from the field."

Lopes, who competed as a pro in the BMX circuit for seven years before channeling all his efforts into mountain biking in 1993, has had an unprecedented twenty year career as a professional cyclist. His impressive accomplishments over this time include over 19 titles, among them, nine National Championship titles, six UCI World Cup Championships, and four World Championships making him the winningest UCI World Cup athlete of all time. Lopes earned his “Flyin Brian” nickname early in his career as a BMX’er that evoked a super smooth style and aggressive air over the jumps which set him apart from the competition. Lopes is not only a legend in the BMX and MTB Gravity worlds, but has also evolved as an incredibly diversified athlete of other cycling disciplines shown by his recent victory at the California State Cyclocross Championships for the 2nd consecutive year!

His accomplishments off the track are just as prestigious, as he was nominated in 2001 for an ESPY "Action sport Athlete of the Year", won two NEA (World Extreme Sports Award) for "Mountain Biker of the Year" in 2000 & 2001, published the best selling Mountain Bike how-to book of all time and is even featured in SONY PlayStation’s "Downhill Domination"! To put the icing on the cake, in 2008 he was inducted into the Mountain Bike and BMX Hall of Fame.

www.magura.com
www.maguradirect.com 
www.brianlopes.com

MTB GP Pro Permanent Number Selection

In case you haven’t heard, the US Grand Prix of Mountain Biking will be issuing permanent numbers to any interested PRO DOWNHILL rider!!  The top riders from last year’s Pro GRT have selected their number, now it’s your turn to choose!  Sorry, this will be PRO DH riders only!

You may choose any available number to keep permanently (see rules & regulations) in which you may brand yourselves.  The number comes at a $50 fee per person, per year (which all funds go toward the overall pro purse &/or privateer award). 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at your convenience!

Tracy Moseley Announces T-Mo Racing

Tracy Moseley, the 2011 downhill World Cup champion and 2010 downhill World Champion, will be refocusing her racing efforts in 2012 under the T-Mo Racing banner. The Trek-sponsored rider will expand her racing calendar to include a variety of race formats next year.

Having begun her racing career in the early 1990s, downhill became Tracy’s speciality, although she has always enjoyed mixing up her mountain biking. Going forward, Tracy will return to her multi-discipline roots and will participate in several races in 2012, including World Cup downhill events, Pro Sprint Eliminator races, and a special focus on enduros.

“After 12 years on the World Cup downhill circuit and the achievement of all the goals I set for myself, I felt that the end of 2011 was a perfect opportunity to make a change in direction and pursue some new challenges,” said Tracy. “I would like to extend my thanks to Trek World Racing and everyone working behind the scenes at Trek for the most successful three years of my career to date. That support has allowed me to attain both a World Championship title and a World Cup title. I look forward to continuing my relationship with Trek as both an athlete and ambassador, as I pursue new ventures,” she added.

With support from Trek, Tracy’s new objective is to elevate her profile as an all-round mountain bike athlete. She has set goals to finish in podium positions across all of her planned races, and to gain points for World Championship selection in both cross country Pro Sprint, and downhill. She will have a variety of bikes from the Trek quiver to choose from, including a Session 9.9 and Slash, as she pursues her new aims. “We are delighted to keep Tracy within the Trek family,” said Trek UK’s Marketing Manager Andrew Griffin. “Her successful career and outstanding reputation made furthering the relationship an easy decision to make. We look forward to supporting the shift in her racing career,” he added.

2012 RockyRoads UCI MTB Logo

RockyRoads Network, the new title sponsor of the UCI Mountain bike World Cup, along with the organizers of all 10 rounds of the 2012 edition, official timers Swiss Timing, technical delegates and UCI staff met in Geneva, Switzerland, this week to prepare the upcoming World Cup season.

Simultaneously, a new logo for the 2012 UCI MTB World Cup was presented. The red and blue banner is gone; the logo is now entirely in black, only the title sponsor RockyRoads and the sub sponsor Shimano keep their signature colors.

The idea behind the organisation of the seminar was to present the changes to the series for 2012. “We want to ensure that the World Cup is a united series rather than 10 separate events,” explains UCI Mountain Bike Organisation Coordinator Mélanie Leveau.

The owner of RockyRoads Network, Sietse Schelpe, was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the organizers after the first meeting. “We are pleased with the feedback from the organizers. They were a bit skeptical about the changes a new sponsor always brings. But they understand our perspective. We want to support and develop the sport more than anything else. Everyone is now energized to work toward creating a beautiful future for the mountain bike sport.”

Schelpe is also pleased with the integration of Sprint Eliminator (XCE) into the World series, even though in 2012 there will be only three sprint eliminator races ridden in Houffalize (BEL), Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE) and La Bresse (FRA). “The sprint has great potential and we hope that together with the UCI we can develop this great discipline even further,” said Schelpe.