Today the Giant Factory Off Road Racing Team (GFORT) announced the addition of 2024 World Champion and overall series winner Alan Hatherly to the cross-country team roster. A release from Giant notes that Hatherly plans to compete in “most” mountain bike world cup races in 2025 while also competing for the Team Jayco AlUla road cycling team. “Combining road and MTB is new and refreshing, and I am really looking forward to where this journey can go,” Hatherly said.
He joins Jens Schuermans, Dario Lillo, and Carter Woods to round out the men’s XC team. On the DH side, Giant adds brothers Jakob and Dane Jewett.
Alongside the XC and DH team news, Giant announced a pause to their enduro racing program.
“Right now, the level of competition in World Cup racing is incredibly high, and sharpening our focus on XC and DH was a necessary decision for our goals in the future,” Team Manager Sebastian Boyington said in a release.
Last month Trek announced similar plans to “pause” their enduro race team for 2025.
Other team news
Norco Team Director Greg Minnaar will have an even split of men and women for the 2025 pro race division. Gracey Hemstreet and Lucas Cruz will be joined by Danny Hart and former Trek rider Bodhi Kuhn on the men’s side, and Erice van Leuven and Lina Frener on the women’s.
The Trek Factory DH men’s team said goodbye to Kuhn, Loris Vergier, and Reece Wilson at the end of 2024 and promises to “have some exciting announcements soon.” Sacha Earnest will be racing women’s DH Elite for Trek after posting five Junior podium finishes in 2024.
The Trek Factory XC team announced late last year that Jolanda Neff and Anton Cooper are leaving the team, so we’ll be watching to see where they end up. Gunnar Holmgren is joining team Trek for 2025 and is looking to build on a top 10 finish in last year’s Nové Město World Cup race.
Ellie Huslebosch and Felix Griffiths joined the Santa Cruz Syndicate DH race team anchored by returning veteran racers Jackson Goldstone, Nina Hoffmann, and Laurie Greenland.
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