The 10 Best Teams of the Past Decade

A team's value is worth more than just any individual rider and over the past decade, we have seen some incredible groups of riders come together to create something special. From Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar and Josh Bryceland on the Santa Cruz Syndicate to the stacked 2019 Commencal team, here are some of the legendary teams from the past decade.


1. Monster Energy Specialized: 2010-2011

After great success with Monster Energy/Iron Horse, 2009 marked a big move for Sam Hill and Brendan Fairclough when the team switched frames to Specialized. Keeping the Monster Energy name, the team brought young Australian rider, Troy Brosnan, onboard and the team quickly proved its worth at the top of the sport when Troy took the Junior title and Sam took the Elite title at the World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne in 2010.



At the end of 2011, Brendan Fairclough would move on from the Monster Energy team and would join the Scott team for 2012. Both Troy and Sam would stick with the Monster Energy team for another year with Sam eventually moving onto his current team of CRC Nukeproof in 2013 and Troy staying on Specialized to race alongside Aaron Gwin.

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2. Santa Cruz Syndicate: 2010 - 2016

With an incredible 13 World Cup wins and 34 podiums, the Syndicate team of Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar and Josh Bryceland is one of the most successful we have seen this past decade. The depth of talent from the three riders, who have all becomes legends in their own right, proved itself both on and off the track as they back up their great race results with the great team videos that provided an inside look at their racing antics.



You can't talk about the Syndicate without mentioning their amazing videos. Producing videos alongside each race they definitely offered a different look at the world of downhill racing that has less emphasis on training and preparation and more about having fun with your mates. With downhill and racing becoming more professional in recent years, we probably won't see a team like this again.

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3. GT Bikes: 2012 - 2015

Under the Athertons, the GT bikes team rose to the top of the sport once again as they brought home a staggering 28 wins between 2012 and 2015, 19 of which came from Rachel alone. Throughout the four years, the Atherton siblings rode for GT they were accompanied by a sizeable list of riders that includes the likes of Martin Maes and Marc Beaumont.



Starting off with GT on the old and odd-looking GT Fury with the I-drive system, the Athertons work with the bike brand to develop a new downhill bike that helped to kick-start Rachel's incredible record-breaking streak of DH wins. Similar to the Syndicate, the Athertons built their brand off the track with the continuation of their online video series. and Clay Porter's Four by Three video series which showed some incredible insight in the tough life of a World Cup racer and showed us the Quarry Line edit that was a precursor to Dan Atherton's Hardline track.

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4. Scott/SRAM Racing: 2019

Coming into 2019 with two current World Champions, the Scott/SRAM team was already looking strong but throughout the season we saw standout performances from Nino Schurter and Kate Courtney that proved they are riders at the top of their fields. Accompanied by strong riders like Andri Friscknecht and Lars Forster there is no weak link in this team.



The glory wouldn't all go to just Schurter and Courtney as at the last round of the year in Snowshoe Lars Forster would get his well deserved first World Cup XC win. He was close to achieving this at the first round in Albstadt but an unfortunate crash took him out of contention for most of the season. He will be coming in strong to 2020.

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5. MS Mondraker: 2016 - 2017

After a reimagining of the team in 2015 that saw Emmeline Ragot return to the team and top British rider Danny Hart leave Giant for Mondraker, there was an uptake in results following the drought of wins from their successful first year on the World Circuit in 2012. For 2016, Danny Hart would stay with the team alongside Markus Pekoll, but with Emmeline Ragot retiring they would hire Laurie Greenland who was coming off a gold medal at the 2015 Junior World Championships.



Similar to teams like the Santa Cruz Syndicate, it's hard to pick a specific period for the Mondraker team because alongside some great results between the tape they have worked hard to expand the sport and have helped to launch the careers of some high-level riders. Since 2012, they have had riders such as Johannes Von Klebelsberg (The Denim Destroyer), Brook Macdonald (current team member but also featured on the team in 2012) and Morgane Charre.

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6. Trek World Racing: 2011 - 2012

Not many teams can claim they have won the Elite men's series, the Elite women's series and the Team series in one season. Apart from World Championship titles the Trek World Racing team won everything in 2011 and in the same year Aaron Gwin also managed to become the first man to win five World Cups in the same season.



This period of racing would end in controversy for Trek World Racing after Aaron Gwin made the late announcement about his move to Specialized to 2013 which came as a shock to fans but it was an even bigger surprise for the team management who had planned and thought Gwin was already racing for them in the next season.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP-7LHJkCQg

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7. Lapierre Gravity Republic: 2013 - 2014

The Lapierre Gravity Republic team has seen some great results with it being the home of Loic Bruni when he took his first World Championship title in 2015. But during the 2013 and 2014 World Cup season it had a great lineup of riders across both Elite and Junior categories. The young French rider Loris Vergier hadn't quite made it to Elites at this point but he was showing promise as he battled for the overall title with the likes of Luca Shaw. Alongside Loris, there was Sam Blenkinsop and Loic Bruni who was getting his first tastes of Elite racing. The team also featured another French rider with Emmeline Ragot racing in the Elite Women's category.



Just like other teams in the past decade, there was a big push to document the experience of racing World Cups in video format. But the Lapierre Gravity Republic took a different approach in 2013 and 2014 as they produced two feature-length documentaries that released after the season had finished. These showed an even deeper level of insight into the highs and lows of World Cup racing.

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8. Commencal Vallnord: 2018 - 2019

The Commencal Vallnord team could be the biggest team at the World Cup with six riders across multiple categories they have a top rider in most of the racers. With this, it's no surprise that is is often this team taking the team win at most rounds of the World Cup. Although the team has been hit with quite a few injuries, most notable of which is Myriam Nicole who was injured for most of 2018 and for most of 2019 with two different injuries. But the depth of talent on the Commencal team more than makes up for if one or two riders are missing.



As we move into the next decade of racing the Commencal Vallnord team is definitely going to be one to watch as they seem pretty unstoppable right now. In 2018, they managed to take the Elite men, Junior men and Team overall for the season. In 2019, they secured the Junior mens title once again and came very close to the other two titles.

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9. Fox Factory/Yeti: 2014 - 2015

Not many teams can say they won the overall EWS titles back to back with two different riders but that is exactly what the Fox Factory/Yeti team managed for the 2014 and 2015 season. With Richie Rude and Jared Graves both making the switch to focus on the EWS as their main discipline, they used the skills they had developed from racing other formats and proved that Enduro racing rewards well-rounded riders.


Jared Graves would move onto Specialized for 2016 but Richie Rude has stayed with Yeti and has seen even more great results with the team. Although both riders were caught in controversy when they tested positive for banned substances at the 2018 EWS round in Olargues, France.

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10. Specialized Racing: 2013 - 2015

The pairing of Troy Brosnan and Aaron Gwin on Specialized could be one of the best we have seen this decade. Who wouldn't want one of the most successful riders of all time alongside one of the most consistent? The Specialized Racing team may not have dominated the World Cup circuit between 2013 and 2015 but they did get quite a few top results.



Specialized has always been good and finding pairs of riders that work well together and in more recent years they have seen the likes of Bruni and Vergier and Bruni and Iles team up to take on the World Cup circuit.

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Posted In:
Stories Racing and Events Videos DH Racing The Twenty Tens Enduro Racing Aaron Gwin Brendan Fairclough Dan Atherton Gee Atherton Greg Minnaar Jared Graves Josh Bryceland Kate Courtney Loic Bruni Martin Maes Myriam Nicole Nino Schurter Rachel Atherton Richie Rude Sam Blenkinsop Sam Hill Steve Peat Troy Brosnan XC Racing