Trek’s factory MTB teams are now Trek-Unbroken!

Trek’s downhill and cross country mountain bike programs are excited to announce that they are joining forces with Unbroken, a Real Time Recovery tablet naturally derived from fresh Norwegian salmon to help athletes rapidly feel refreshed and ready for the highest levels of competition. The revamped teams will race under a new name — Trek-Unbroken — across the World Cup circuit beginning in 2026.

Trek and Unbroken will work together to strengthen the teams’ competitive potential. As a title partner, Unbroken will give Trek-Unbroken riders the resources they need to conquer a rigorous calendar of training, product testing, racing, and taking podiums. 

Unbroken joined Trek’s racing programs as a sponsor last June. The introduction was made through the Lidl-Trek road program, when team doctor Jens Hinder was recommended the product by former Trek athlete Andy Schleck. Hinder tried the product himself and vouched for it to team management. Then athletes like Mattias Skjelmose tried it and raved about how Unbroken improved their recovery.

“What’s really important for us is that the athlete identifies with our brand, and that they trust it,” Unbroken founder and CEO Steinar Kristjansson said. “Our sponsorship with the team is direct and performance-focused; we provide real value that helps drive their results.”

The product spread to Trek’s mountain bike teams, and it proved just as popular among those athletes as it did within the Lidl-Trek squad. At the same time, Unbroken realized it had an opportunity to show off its benefits to a new audience of riders that hadn’t been inundated with products claiming marginal gains the way that roadies have.

New to Unbroken? Read our guide to what it is and how to use it.

Unbroken is a recovery drink that provides nine essential amino acids (9EAAs) in free-form and di- and tri-peptides to accelerate muscle recovery. It works by simply adding one or two effervescent tablets to water, and comes in natural flavors such as mango, apple, orange, and lemon lime. Unbroken delivers what it calls “Anytime Recovery,” allowing athletes to recover on the go — before, during, or after a hard effort. For Lidl-Trek, it was a major factor in the team’s Grand Tour success, when riders had to race several hours a day for three straight weeks, often taking on some of the most fearsome climbs in the world.

Mountain bike efforts aren’t nearly as lengthy on the World Cup circuit. Elite Olympic-distance XC races last just over an hour, and go down to around 20 minutes for short track. The fastest downhill runs can last less than three minutes. But the physical demands of MTB racing are just as high as on the road. The riders take on brutal terrain, and their bodies pay a price on every root, rock, stump, and jump that they navigate, not to mention the lung-busting effort it takes to stay at the front of the pack. 

This season, Unbroken played a key role in helping Trek’s MTB athletes withstand the cumulative toll of World Cup racing across Italy, Andorra, Switzerland, France, the United States, and Canada. Riders consistently noted not just improved day-to-day freshness, but significantly less muscle soreness after hard efforts. They were able to rebound more quickly for multiple practice runs, and stay competitive throughout the week.

“Unbroken aligns with us in that they really look far into the future, and where this team wants  to go,” Trek Global Director of Sports Marketing Tim Vanderjeugd said. “Their leadership came out to a lot of World Cups this year. And each time, it’s been really fun to show them mountain biking and the differences between the two disciplines. The baggy downhill audience is very different from the lycra XC audience, and they’ve really come to appreciate how those two complement each other.”

By becoming an equal part of the team name for Trek’s MTB programs, Unbroken can showcase that it’s not just a supplement for the most hardcore endurance athletes. No matter your sport or your discipline — whether you run ultra-distance trail races or lift eye-boggingly heavy weights — Unbroken can help you combat soreness and feel better when you want to perform your best. (Unbroken is also now available at trebikes.com and in Trek stores in the USA and Europe.)

Mountain Bike World Cups will be an excellent staging area for Unbroken to interact with passionate mountain bike fans. Unlike a road race, mountain bike races tend to start and finish in the same spot, near a village of team and sponsor tents. Unbroken will be able to embed itself in the heart of MTB racing.

“Our new partner realizes, as we have over the last years, that Rome isn’t built in a day,” Vanderjeugd said. “They know that they need to come to the races. They know that they need to visit our stores, educate our sales staff on the floors about products, and educate the athletes. They know that they need the athletes to be the first and foremost line of introduction, talking to their peers about it. They get that it is a multi-step approach. You can’t just roll up to the start line and expect to win.”

For Trek, partnering with Unbroken is a chance to strengthen its relationship with a partner who is similarly committed to helping athletes perform their best with a product it believes in. Though Trek and Unbroken are two very different companies, they share a culture of passion and collaboration that make them easy partners on a mission to win championships and develop the fastest mountain bike teams in the world.

“We love working with Trek,” Kristjansson said. “We have the same values. We want to keep people riding longer. We want people to have a better quality life. And we’re doing the things we love. We love the Trek values, and I think for us, it’s really important that the riders feel the difference.”

With phenomenal athletes on the XC team like two-time World Champion Evie Richards and American national champion Riley Amos, and a pair of budding Kiwis on the downhill squad in Lachie Stevens-McNab and Sacha Earnest, the future is bright for Trek-Unbroken. We’ll have plenty more great news in the coming weeks. Look out for what’s shaping up to be a big 2026 and beyond.