Two downhill signings enter the C(o)ll(e)ct(i)v(e) for Canyon as Jack Moir and Italian Loris Revelli fill the shoes of Florian Nicolai, who left for Trek. Jack has enjoyed decent success in the EWS before with a best result of 6th, however this is a totally new venture for Revelli who has only previously raced in World Cup DH. Jack has already had a bit of a setback with an appendix that's gone pop, but will apparently be back in training before the season starts. Canyon were the winners of the team competition last year and won't want to let go of that title without a fight.
Three fast, young French rippers join the Commencal program for 2020 as Cecile Ravanel continues to recover from her broken vertebrae. Alex Rudeau and Laura Charles have both shown bright sparks in the EWS races they have competed in, whereas Alexis Icardo has been ripping up the French Cadet series in preparation to embark as a Junior in the EWS.
No changes in the line up for Giant this year but McKay Vezina will come back from his year sabbatical racing the North American circuit to take on a full series. Josh Carlson is moving over to EWS-E to take part in the new series for 2020.
Another unchanged team comes from GT with the triple threat of Noga Korem, Martin Maes and Wyn Masters. All of these riders are also registered as part of GT's downhill squad in a super-versatile team. GT led the team standings for most of last year and are one of the few teams where every rider has a podium place finish to their name so will be charging towards that title again in 2020.
Ibis say farewell to Lewis Buchanan and welcome Cole Lucas and Louise Paulin in his stead. Lucas has been knocking on the door in DH and Enduro for years and finally gets rewarded with his first factory ride. We'll be interested to see what's next for the Kiwi after his first two top tens last year. Louise Paulin was the 2019 Masters champion and will be the woman to beat in 2020.
The biggest shakeup this year comes at Lapierre where the Enduro Collective have been absorbed into the fold to create a very young, very fast team. They're set to launch a French assault at the two titles with Isabeau Courdurier looking to extend her unbeaten run and Dailly set for a proper comeback year after injury struggles in the past couple years. It will be interesting to see how the two teams gel and perform as the season gets underway.
Liv is fielding the only all-women's team in 2020 with long-time Liv athlete Rae Morrison joined by Leonie Picton, Isabella Naughton and 14-year-old Riley Miller.
Sticking with their core team for yet another year, the Rocky Mountain team will be keeping a close eye on the team rankings all year after coming second by just 300 points last year. Gauvin, ALN and Melamed all podiumed last year and will be looking to continue bolstering their tallies or go even better, as the year progresses.
After a strong showing at the Trans Provence and the one EWS round he raced last year, Romain Paulhan makes the step up from a Santa Cruz sponsored rider to becoming part of their enduro team.
Why change a winning formula? Sam Hill targets four on the trot with the same team around him for 2020.
Cube lose a big rider in Greg Callaghan who raced with them since 2015 and brought in 3 EWS victories. Johansen, Wiedenroth and Wildhaber all stay on the team and they will be joined by Claus Wachsmann who will be racing in masters.
Pivot are another team of polymaths with all their riders also registered on the downhill circuit. Speaking of downhill racing, 2012 World Champion Morgane Charre joins the team after her heroics as a privateer in 2019.
Yoann Barelli is joined on the SRAM program by Ella Connolly for 2020. Keep an eye out for Connoly to pull in some big results this year. She was Under 21 champ in 2018 then picked up her first-ever podium just three races into her elite career last year. A training crash in Les Orres put her out for most of the season, but she'll be hoping bounce back strong this year.
One of the big scoops of the off-season was Trek plucking last year's runner up Florian Nicolai away from Canyon. Florian was just pipped to the title by a flying Sam Hill in Zermatt and will be out for redemption in 2020. Also new to the team is Harriet Harnden, a 19-year-old who has been mentored by Tracey Moseley. She has already made a winning start to her Trek career and was crowned British cyclocross champion in January.
Some big changes were rung in at Devinci as Damien Oton said his farewells and was replaced by Ireland's Greg Callaghan. Oton has been a consistent performer for Devinci up until his injury-filled 2019 but Callaghan should be a worthy replacement and will be relishing a new start to regain his top ten form of years gone by. Also joining the team is Georgia Astle who moves up to the factory team after being a Devinci supported rider last year.
Devinci's loss was Orbea's gain as Damien Oton jumped on board with the Spanish outfit. Oton is returning from a broken back in 2020 and will be battling to be back up in the top five overall where he finished in 2018, 2017 and 2016. Also coming on board is Edgar Carballo who posted some promising results riding fro a Mondraker program last year. Thomas Lapeyrie and Becky Cook leave the team to run self-funded programs.
I suspect the e racing will actually be more interesting than the regular ews.
Two years ago I tried to get a Blenki @norcobicycles jersey that he rode in and I couldn't.
But agreed, most teams don’t, and they totally should. Same goes for XC and DH, as I’d pay good money for my daughter to have a Courtney or Neff jersey!
Bigger question is: Why didn’t Pinkbike see fit to say anything about the Yeti team? They’re 2/3 of the World Champ team, and Rude is as much a title threat as Maes or Hill.
The UAE Tour was cancelled yesterday after two team members were believed to have been infected with coronavirus (the final two stages had been abandoned).
Some Italian races are under threat of cancellation following the confirmed coronavirus cases at the UAE Tour; Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico and Strade Bianche
Finally, Mathieu van der Poel will not be at the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this weekend. Supposedly Van der Poel has the flu and not the COVID-19.
www.worldebikeseries.com/teams/focus-scuderia-fontana
put my glasses on, found Richie and Yeti