9 2022 Team Changes That Flew Under the Radar

Now that the UCI team lists are officially out in the open and I've woken up to an inbox full of panicked messages from teams that didn't realize their secrets would go public today, we've been able to look at the team changes that flew under the radar this off-season. Some of the listings are non-news news: Miranda Miller is listed as possibly racing downhill for Kona (same with last year) and Dan Atherton is listed as a racer for the Atherton clan. (Again, same with last year, but the more exciting news is that we'll likely see Rachel and Gee return to the race tracks this year.) Still, a few team changes surprised us. Here are the names we saw (or didn't see) on the lists that made us go huh, interesting.

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555 Raaw Gravity Racing
Ryan Brannen, Douglas Goodwill, KJ Sharp, & Luke Williamson

What was 555 Gravity Racing has become 555 Raaw Gravity Racing, with the makers of the Madonna and Jibb backing a World Cup gravity team. This, of course, suggests that there may be a Raaw downhill bike in the works. What's more, reigning British downhill national champion KJ Sharp has joined the team, replacing Calum McBain.

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Slawomir Lukasik to Canyon Collective Pirelli... Maybe?
Henri Kiefer, Antoine Pierron, Loris Revelli, Dante Silva... & Slawomir Lukasik?

This one's a bit of a head scratcher, as Canyon and Pirelli announced the Canyon Collective Pirelli team just the other day with no mention of Lukasik, but he's listed with the UCI as part of the team. The best explanation I can come up with is that, since his most impressive results last year were at EWS events, he'll primarily focus on those as part of a different Canyon (and Pirelli?) program, but is nonetheless listed on the UCI roster with this crew just for when he does come race the odd World Cup downhill. Still, since he posted a goodbye to NS Bikes recently and has not yet announced a new sponsor, the news here is that it appears he'll be on Canyon going forward.

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Jenn Jackson to Canyon MTB Racing
Emily Batty, Laurie Arsenault, & Jennifer Jackson

Jenn Jackson raced as part of the Norco Factory Team for the last two years and has not yet announced her new sponsor, but it appears she'll be joining her fellow Canadians Emily Batty and Laurie Arsenault on Canyon MTB Racing.

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Gen-S
Francescu Camoin, Estelle Charles, Allan Cooke, Kevin Miquel, Charles Murray, Sofia Wiedenroth, & Izabela Yankova

This one could be downright brilliant. I don't know what the big S has up its sleeve, but it appears it has formed a development team of sorts with a collection of up-and-coming gravity riders. While most of the riders on that list are mainly focused on enduro, having them registered as a UCI downhill team bodes well for seeing them take on a variety of races. Allan Cooke is a Specialized marketing guy as well as a great rider - will he be getting out on the race course? And then, of course, there's rising downhill star Izabela Yankova. It's great to see all these riders backed by this support, and it will be exciting to see where this team goes.

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Jacob Dickson to MS Mondraker
Jacob Dickson, Eleonora Farina, Brook MacDonald, Toby Meek, Oliver Morris, Tuhoto Ariki Pene, & David Trummer

We heard about Tuhoto Ariki Pene and David Trummer being picked up by Mondraker, but Jacob Dickson hasn't yet announced his new team. The fast Irish rider has been part of the Giant Factory Off-Road Team since 2017 and has collected a handful of impressive results since then. Hopefully he can keep that momentum going as he moves forward to ride with MS Mondraker.

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Norco Factory Team
Peter Disera, Sean Fincham, Henry Fitzgerald, Gwendalyn Gibson, Gracey Hemstreet, Elliot Jamieson, Emily Johnston, Sam Blenkinsop, Lucas Cruz & Carter Woods

This team is a bit of a jumble with both the XC and the DH riders listed as a single team this season, but we can see that there's been a bit of reshuffling. Most notably, young BC ripper Gracey Hemstreet has joined the downhill crew, which is fantastic news after some stellar results from Gracey in 2021 at both World Cup races and Crankworx events.

Haley Smith has announced her departure from the team and has yet to announce her next move. She is not listed with any of the UCI teams.

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Jenna Hastings to Pivot Factory Racing
Morgane Charre, Jenna Hastings, Bernard Kerr, Ed Masters, Emilie Siegenthaler, & Matthew Walker

New Zealand junior rider Jenna Hastings made a splash in 2021 when she earned a series of podiums at Crankworx NZ. Now, she's signed with the Pivot Factory Team to take her skills to the top level alongside Morgane Charre, Bernard Kerr, Ed Masters, and Matt Walker (the southern hemisphere one). Emilie Siegenthaler is still listed on the roster, too, but we don't expect her to race World Cups this year after announcing her retirement from World Cup racing in 2021.

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Propain Positive Supported by Vee
Phil Atwill, Anthanasios Panagitsas, & Sokratis Zotos

This team is a new addition for Propain, featuring Phil Atwill, who raced as a "free athlete" for Propain last year, plus young Greek shredders Ahthanasios Panagitsas and Sokratis Zotos.

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Ethan Shandro off RockShox Trek Race Team
Tegan Cruz, Jamie Edmondson, & Vali Holl

It's not clear where Ethan Shandro has gone or whether he'll be racing this season. He had a very unfortunate concussion in 2019 that continued to cause lingering symptoms in 2020, so it's concerning to see him off the team and not listed elsewhere. We hope he's healing up all right and able to chase whatever he wants to chase as soon as possible.