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2025 World Cup XCC-XCO

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#3,181 ·
carlostruco said:
Some rumblings before the weekend:
1. Summer window for new riders added to teams opened and the big winner is...Luke Moir!!! @Brad well deserved!!!
2. Vlad Dascalu has been posting rides in Strava since May.
3. Nino still not ok from his breathing problems.
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1. Well deserved indeed. No news from Puntener although his team (Solothurn) got a wildcard invite for this round so I doubt he'd announce anything before this weekend.
2. I noticed he is kitted out in the 2025 TFR kit and top fuel... So he obviously still has some ties to the team which is a bit surprising to me
 
#3,185 ·
Exmuhle said:
The UCI XC weekly rankings were out yesterday, and TFR aren't in the Top 10.......and haven't been for a while.......Not good enough for one of the major teams. Take Evie & the Holmgrens (who aren't really part of the team) away, they'd have no wins
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I don't disagree but should we expect them to be top 10? Evie Richards is the only rider I would expect to be winning, the rest are realistically top 20 or top 30 potential riders, optimistically top 10, yet some of them aren't even breaking top 30

Being a factory team you'd expect them to be higher up there with more wins but that requires money to buy top riders which I suspect they don't have much of these days.

All that said, that's not to take away that there might also be some management issues plaguing the team (which I'm not privy to).
 
#3,187 ·
carlostruco said:
Some rumblings before the weekend:
1. Summer window for new riders added to teams opened and the big winner is...Luke Moir!!! @Brad well deserved!!!
2. Vlad Dascalu has been posting rides in Strava since May.
3. Nino still not ok from his breathing problems.
Click to expand...
Thanks Carlos, I’ll convey the sentiment but you may see him before I do 😂
 
#3,188 ·
poopoomcgoo said:
I don't disagree but should we expect them to be top 10? Evie Richards is the only rider I would expect to be winning, the rest are realistically top 20 or top 30 potential riders, optimistically top 10, yet some of them aren't even breaking top 30

Being a factory team you'd expect them to be higher up there with more wins but that requires money to buy top riders which I suspect they don't have much of these days.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we can only compare them to their Factory rivals; Specialized, Cannondale, and even Cube......One assumes they've had a massive budget cut and can't afford more. Maybe they've over payed over the years and its time to re-evaluate their programme? They don't have the luxury of Lidl sponsorship like the Road teams. Isn't Dan McConnell the last male Elite Trek rider to win a XCO World Cup? That's a long time for one of the top Factory teams.......
 
Discussion starter · #3,189 ·
I could be mistaken, but if I remember correctly, there were two team structures sponsored by Trek at that time. McConnell's team and the evolution of Subaru-Trek or Gary Fisher or whatever...my understanding at the time was that McConnell's team wasn't a Factory like the current iteration or the likes of Cannondale/Specialized nowadays.

Time for some Indiana Jones...
 
#3,190 ·
Exmuhle said:
Yeah, we can only compare them to their Factory rivals; Specialized, Cannondale, and even Cube......One assumes they've had a massive budget cut and can't afford more. Maybe they've over payed over the years and its time to re-evaluate their programme? They don't have the luxury of Lidl sponsorship like the Road teams. Isn't Dan McConnell the last male Elite Trek rider to win a XCO World Cup? That's a long time for one of the top Factory teams.......
Click to expand...
Giant Factory is in a similar position... Apart from wins in the U23 category, I dont know when they last won an elite world cup but it must have been quite some time ago. That being said, they usually place riders in the top 15-30 which helps them cement a top 10 in the teams ranking. Hatherly's arrival helps them too and maybe he will be their first elite winner soon
 
#3,193 ·
Exmuhle said:
Yeah, we can only compare them to their Factory rivals; Specialized, Cannondale, and even Cube......One assumes they've had a massive budget cut and can't afford more. Maybe they've over payed over the years and its time to re-evaluate their programme? They don't have the luxury of Lidl sponsorship like the Road teams. Isn't Dan McConnell the last male Elite Trek rider to win a XCO World Cup? That's a long time for one of the top Factory teams.......
Click to expand...
Maybe TFR's mediocre results of the last few seasons have something to do with their switch to Pirelli?
Only Puck Pieters is able to win on these tyres, I mean, the Pirellis are mediocre at best.
 
Discussion starter · #3,194 ·
Joe K1ng said:
Maybe TFR's mediocre results of the last few seasons have something to do with their switch to Pirelli?
Only Puck Pieters is able to win on these tyres, I mean, the Pirellis are mediocre at best.
Click to expand...
Puck dismantles the field on those tires. Amos played with the field early last season with those tires. Sarrou has an Elite win with those tires. I don't think the tires are the problem.
 
#3,198 ·
Thanks for the tip! I was not aware that the race is so early in the morning. And thanks for not revealing anything about the results! Just switched to see the recording. Not much happening in the France at the moment ...
 
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