With the mountain bike season coming to its end we’re celebrating another fun and fascinating year riding, racing and working together with Santa Cruz Syndicate. It’s three years that we’ve been partners with the three riders in the current line-up of the SCS – the experienced South African multiple champion Greg Minnaar, and his two young team-mates: the fast and fluid Frenchman Loris Vergier and the American Luca Shaw – and what a ride it’s been! Over the seasons we’ve seen World Cup wins, regular podiums, brave and skillful performances and a great learning curve for the two younger riders in their step up from Junior championship-winning form to Elite class. Injuries permitting, as they’ve consolidated racing at the highest level they’ve been in contention in every race in the World Cup and the World Championships. While the SCS team have been riding their V10 Santa Cruz downhill race bikes equipped with fizik’s high performance mountain bike saddles – Gobi and Tundra – into the successful 2019 season that’s just concluded with top-six overall positions for Vergier and Minnaar they, their mechanics, technicians and behind-the-scenes staff have been working in close collaboration with us. On the big race days and away from the cameras they’ve been testing and developing the new fizik mountain bike saddle range. While downhill riders might not spend much time sitting on the saddle, it’s still a key component for bike control – the riders continuously interact with it via their inner leg movements. It became clear early in this project that the riders’ feedback on the new saddles’ shape would be an important focus. The mechanics’ feedback was also crucial: the introduction of 29in wheels on DH bikes brought a whole new set of problems to solve, including rider-bike fit, riding position and tire-to-seat clearance with the long travel rear suspension. And of course factoring in and testing the fatigue and stress components needs to reliably withstand in these unforgiving riding conditions. Working side by side with the Santa Cruz Syndicate team we gathered input through brainstorming sessions, we collected data, we field tested and the saddles were raced proved. The analysis wasn’t just restricted to downhill racing, as the team have also considered the saddle’s use in other gravity disciplines, from competitive enduro to all-mountain trail riding. Together we looked at comfort when sitting, support and pressure relief features that help riders conquer even the most technical climbs. This eventually led to the two new Alpaca models, designed to suit different riding disciplines: Terra Alpaca’s waved form and pressure-relieving indent make it perfect for all-mountain and enduro riding on full-suspension trail bikes, while Gravita Alpaca’s narrow, rounded design is designed for fast, aggressive downhill riding, such as enduro, and ideal for the uncompromising World Cup racing the Syndicate have been putting them to! Photographs: @aledilullo The mountain bike World Cup season is gathering great momentum with two fixtures back-to-back in the coming two weekends. After the first three rounds of downhill – at Maribor, Slovenia, then Fort William, Scotland and most recently Leogang, Austria – and the first two rounds of cross-country – at Albstadt, Germany and Nové Město, Czech Republic – the two major World Cup disciplines of mountain bike racing come together for their remaining five fixtures. This weekend’s meeting is at Vallnord, Andorra – a classic setting for both codes, which features regularly on the UCI World Cup calendar. DOWNHILL With Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Luca Shaw suffering a collarbone injury and Greg Minnaar’s slow start at a bruising opening round in Maribor, round 2 at Fort William saw Loris Vergier take a fine third place with Minnaar sixth. All the riders are equipped with Gobi and Tundra saddles. The campaign’s momentum is building: Minnaar took a fine second place in Leogang, just 0.3sec behind triple World Champion Loic Bruni. Luca Shaw returned to racing with a ninth place showing his recuperation is on track. Minnaar and Vergier are fifth and sixth in the World Cup standings after three rounds. The Vallnord DH course is high profile, high altitude and high speed – and becomes increasingly loose and technical. Less than 200km from their Barcelona base, Team UNNO know it well. Minnaar has multiple strong results here (including a World Championships silver medal) but no win. 2018 saw high drama for Santa Cruz Syndicate riders: Shaw looked set for first but crashed out, handing the win to Vergier for his maiden Elite World Cup victory. CROSS-COUNTRY With cross-country teams riding on Tundra and Gobi saddles we’ve already seen some gutsy and successful rides at the first two meetings, in both the Olympic distance (XCO) main race and short course (XCC). Bianchi Countervail’s Stephane Tempier hit the top 10 in Germany in both the XCO and XCC. Nadir Colledani and Chiara Teocchi have both been consistently scoring good points. Superior XC Team’s Linda Indergand backed up an amazing fourth in the Albstadt XCC with sixth in Nové Město XCC and XCO. Perhaps the most pleasing performance so far is Ondřej Cink of Kross Racing Team finishing on the XCO podium with a fine fifth position at his home race, Nové Město. A fast course and fine weather in Andorra la Vella look set to get this double-header off to a great start on 5-7 July. After successful 2018 campaigns, Santa Cruz Syndicate retain their three riders – who are all set for an explosive season – and Team UNNO keep the same line-up, heading into 2019 to keep building on their solid 2018. There are nine big races this year, with the first action for all five fizik riders starting at Maribor, across the weekend of 27-28 April. Santa Cruz Syndicate Frenchman, Loris Vergier and American, Luca Shaw, look to build on their top-10 overall finishes, under the leadership of multiple World Cup and World Championship winner, South African, Greg Minnaar. All run V-10 29ers with Gobi and Tundra saddles, Minnaar sat out much of 2018 with a broken arm but bounced back to finish in the top 10 at the World Championships and “shows no signs of slowing down as he heads into 2019 with double Junior World Cup winner, Vergier, scored his first Elites World Cup race win last year in Andorra, and bagged fourth overall for the season so expectations are high. While Shaw is also on the up, and super-quick when he hangs it all together, it was his turn to suffer misfortune in the days before the Maribor race. He crashed in a training ride, and despite riding on, later discovered he’d broken his collar bone – making racing, at least at Maribor, impossible. When Shaw’s fixed he’ll be raring to translate 2018’s three fastest qualifying runs into top step results. Team UNNO Barcelona-based Team UNNO are set to improve on performances and results, with the same core team and two British riders, Taylor Vernon and Greg Williamson, who both run Gobi and Tundra saddles on their top-spec factory EVER and BURN bikes. The 22-year-old Welshman, Taylor Vernon’s best performance so far in the Elites came at Mont Sainte-Anne, so keep your eyes peeled for him when the Canadian venue hosts the World Championships. Fast-riding Scot, Greg Williamson, is also double British DH Champion and has been working hard over the winter to make an impact and improve his top-10 World Cup finishes, such as at Leogang in Austria. The courses There are eight World Cup rounds in 2019 – one more than previously – plus the World Championships towards the end of the season. Many of the courses have some great characteristics and history, starting with a banger in Slovenia… Maribor hosts a World Cup event for the first time since 2010, and while few of the riders other than the super-experienced Minnaar are familiar with it, there are many fans glad to see its return. The 2.6km long track has a total elevation drop of 450m. There has been some reworking with the race directors promising some new jumps in the first half of the track and new, fast sections towards the end of the course. It replaces Lošin, Croatia as the first race of the season – where Luca Shaw grabbed second last year: he will relish a return to Eastern Europe. As the Tour Down Under opens the 2019 WorldTour calendar, here’s our guide to the year’s main racing highlights to look forward to. Many of our teams’ riders are also targeting different races to get their seasons underway, so here’s where to watch them first: 27-28 April: Maribor, Slovenia – World Cup Round 1 1-2 June: Fort William, Scotland – World Cup Round 2 8-9 June: Leogang, Austria – World Cup Round 3 6-7 July: Vallnord, Andorra – World Cup Round 4 13-14 July: Les Gets, France – World Cup Round 5 3-4 August: Val di Sole, Italy – World Cup Round 6 10-11 August: Lenzerheide, Switzerland – World Cup Round 7 31 August-1 September: Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada – World Championships 7-8 September: Snowshoe, United States – World Cup Round 8
