Great bike rider.
He used to race my local XC races when he was a junior. Not many were keen on him or his dad, definitely not the friendliest of people. We have quite a few other pro's in the area who are all lovely, Swift, Blythe, the Downing brothers are all genuinely nice.
"Actually does anyone make a serious XCO bike that isn’t a competitor on the road?
(SC Mondraker etc all make xc bikes, but I can’t recall seeing one at top level in any of my brief dalliances with watching it)"
Santa Cruz have a serious XC team. Maxime Marotte and Luca Braidot are their best known riders. They have Blurs in a nice olive green colour. Not sure if that's coming to consumers or just to avoid a hideous clash between the salmon pink/orange and the orange Fox Factory forks.
As said Rebecca McConnell has won all three XCOs this year, on a Mondraker.
Matthias Flukiger, consistently one of the best riders of the last few years, rides a Thomus - they make road bikes (he rode one at Tour De Romandie) but not aware of any sponsored pro teams.
Quite a few top XC racers ride euro-brands that dson't have much presence in the UK, like american eagle, ghost, Kross. I think the euro market is much more interested in xc bikes than the UK.
BTW, it's not just Scott using more than 100mm now. I believe Jordan Sarou is increasingly using his Epic Evo, and some euro brands are 120mm too.
Would have been interesting to see what Milan Vader chose for XC. He riders for Jumbo Visma and obviously no Cervelo mtb for him. Obviously we haven't seen him this year because of his terrible crash on the road.
and obviously no Cervelo mtb for him.
You missed the Pinkbike (accidentally released prior to the embargo) video about the two new Cervelo MTBs then?
Interesting, but there's no video on the link. Can't find any other mention of it online. Was it an actual prototype of a new design, or just a debadged existing bike being tested with "prototype"stickers?
I had read that he might have been able to choose any brand owned by Pon, so probably a Santa Cruz, Focus or Cannondale.
MVDP is going to blow their mind…
I’d love to see Tom Pidcock and MVDP do a whole XCO season, rather than a couple of events before disappearing off to do something else. There aren’t many sports where athletes can come and go so easily…
@northernsoul they would need a team to compete with their wages. Just not going to happen I’m afraid.
Also need to bear in mind that they will have their own ambitions and I very much doubt a season of XCO is that high for them. I think they both want to do other things alongside mtb and good for them. Makes it interesting for folks like me who are also multiple event cyclists (in a completely different universe to those pair)
Interesting, but there’s no video on the link. Can’t find any other mention of it online. Was it an actual prototype of a new design, or just a debadged existing bike being tested with “prototype”stickers?
I thankfully managed to watch it before it got redacted! Cervelo have two MTBs in the pipeline, both built from scratch (not rebadged open mould). One hardtail and one full-sus. Both built to be very light and (very) XC geometry. No down-country bias!
I’d love to see Tom Pidcock and MVDP do a whole XCO season, rather than a couple of events before disappearing off to do something else
I suppose that is the problem with multi discipline top riders. Would have also been nice to have seen more of Pidcock and MDVP in the cross season but I don't suppose that matches their goals or maybe even money and team commitments.
has he ever mentioned why he runs his brakes reversed/euro style?
Most, if not all international riders do as replacement bikes given out following a crash or mechanical during races will be set up that way, particularly if they come from a neutral car.
