Meet Trek Future Racing, Trek’s revamped XC development program

Two years ago, Trek | VAUDE entered the cross country racing circuit and made a name for itself as one of the sport’s foremost development pipelines for young athletes. To reflect its success and even greater focus on developing XC’s biggest stars of tomorrow, the team is undergoing a revamp, with redesigned bikes and kits and a new name:  Trek Future Racing.

Though Trek Future Racing will be committing even further to young athletes, its leadership and development philosophy will remain the same. Bernd Reutemann will continue to oversee the squad as he has since its outset in 2021.

“We wanted to learn in our first XCO season. Then everything turned out differently. We won all the U23 World Cups with our team, two World Championship titles, two European Championship titles, and three national championship titles,” Reutemann says. “It all happened very quickly. Our goal was, and is, to help young talents develop into top athletes, taking into account the athletes’ health. We will come even closer to this goal from 2023 onwards.”

VAUDE was a valued partner of the squad for two years, but will not continue its involvement with the team.

“I personally regret very much that we cannot take the next step together,” Reutemann said. “I am grateful for the great support that our team received from VAUDE.”

“After two years full of shared experiences, spectacular victories and great cooperation, a new chapter is now opened, which we will no longer accompany for strategic reasons,” Leo Jelko, VAUDE Sponsoring Manager, said. “We say thank you for the great time, wish the team much success and keep our fingers crossed.”

Thanks to a number of new partners, Trek Future Racing will have even more resources at its disposal to execute its wholistic and sophisticated development philosophy.

Dr. Jürgen Grunwald is joining the staff as the team physician and will be responsible for athlete nutrition and health. Sven Meyer, the former German and Danish national track cycling coach, will take over as Trek Future Racing’s performance coach. In total, the support team will consist of 10 people helping eight athletes.

Trek Future Racing will return all of its Under-23 athletes from 2022, while adding three new athletes. The roster is made up of riders from six different countries.

Returning athletes:

• Luisa Daubermann, born 2002 (Germany) — Runner-up World Champion XCO Juniors 2020
• Tamara Wiedmann, born 2001 (Austria) — Runner-up Austria XCO 2022
• Nils Aebersold, born 2003 (Switzerland) — 3rd place World Champion XCO Juniors 2021
• Mario Bair, born 2001 (Austria) — Vice Champion Austria XCO U23 2022
• Bjorn Riley, born 2002 (USA) — US Champion XCO U23 2022

New for 2023:

• Lea Huber, born 2004 (Switzerland) — Runner-up World Champion XCO Juniors 2022
• Tobias Lillelund, born 2002 (Denmark) — Runner-up Denmark XCO 2022
• Emilly Johnston, born 2002 (Canada) — Canadian Champion XCO U23 2021

Trek Future Racing is dedicated to developing athletes in a way that’s sustainable and introduces them slowly to life in a professional team. For example, Lea Huber, who will ride her first U23 season in 2023, will be given the time and space she needs to complete her high school degree.

Trek Future Racing is also actively seeking out and recruiting more young mountain bike athletes. The team launched Trek Talent Scouting in cooperation with Trek last November in Germany. More than 200 athletes applied to the pilot program within its first seven days.

“With Trek Future Racing, we want to close the gap between locally supported athletes and Trek Factory Racing,” Trek Sports Marketing Director Tim Vanderjeugd said. “In addition, we would like our Talent Scouting program to create a broad base of talent and a potential springboard for their further development. We are excited about the future.”

To learn more about Trek Future Racing, head to the team’s website.