Trek Factory Racing CX suits up

Cross is coming! The upcoming season will see Trek Factory Racing Cyclocross take on a strong European schedule, and do so with a strong international roster. The team will continue to be the home of tested cyclocross talent on existing Trek Factory Racing programs such as Jolanda Neff, Evie Richards, and Hattie Harnden. Joining the team and the broader Trek family will be Maddie Munro from Colorado in the United States. Together, this team will tackle a busy European schedule of races.

With racing having to take a truncated program in 2020, many riders from disciplines in cross country, and even enduro, are looking to cyclcross as a platform to get in much needed race time before 2021 kicks off in earnest.

The 2020/2021 season will see a new look for the CX program, as modeled by the programs newest rider Maddie Munro.

Maddie Munro joins the team after an incredible finish to her Junior career, taking third place at World Championships. Now, the talented rider from Boulder, Colorado is looking towards her first year in the U-23 category. For Maddie, this season is all about gaining experience. “For the upcoming CX season, since I will be a first year U23 my main goal is to obtain as much World Cup level racing experience as possible and continuing to improve my skills on the CX bike, ” says Maddie”. “I have some goals in the U-23 World Cup for XC as well, so this year is all about learning, and getting my foot in the door.”

The affable Colorado native will finish up the season with the remaining XC World Cup races, taking part in her last year as a Junior. “My near goal is to do well in my last Junior MTB World Champs, “says Maddie Munro. “I am training with the larger goal of winning a medal as well as continuing to expand my experience racing at this level.” After finishing up the last XC races of the season, Maddie makes the quick transition to U-23 cyclcross in the Trek Factory Racing colors. Long term, Maddie has her eyes on lofty goals, “I have dreams of going to the Olympics and winning World Championships at some point in my career,” says Munro. “I realize that this first year with Trek is going to be a great building block to help me reach these dream goals, along with learning and growing as a rider as well as person in the sport”

Jolanda Neff comes into the CX season directly after key XC races, and looks to build up as much racing as she can prior to the new Olympic year. “I would love love love to race the full CX season, as I think it’s a unique opportunity with a late start to mountain bike racing this year,” says Jolanda. “Nevertheless, next year is hopefully going to be an Olympic Year – fingers crossed! – and therefore, I don’t want to neglect a good base training and build up during the winter. I will always choose racing over endless hours of training, as I am convinced racing is the best training you can get, but I can also not totally forget about base training!”

Evie Richards kicked off her first year in elite XC with a dominant win in Banyoles. Now, she is keen to get back to the high paced action of cross after a quiet year.

“I’m super excited for this cross season,” says Richards. “It will be so nice to get back racing and get that cross adrenaline going again with some amazing ladies! My main aims this season is to get stuck into some more cross races, to sharpen up on some of my cross skills and enjoy rolling around in lots of mud!”

“My goals for the season are to do as many of the world cups as I can fit in, in order to gain lots of experience and hopefully get to race lots of different courses and conditions,” says Hattie Harnden. “I also can’t wait to wear my elite British national Champs stripes all season and put up a good fight to hopefully defend them in January. Lastly, I’m hoping to get selected to compete at European and World Championships as an under 23 rider.”

Be sure to keep up with the team on the Trek Factory Racing page!