MS-Intense-Racing Announces 2024 DH World Cup Roster
MS-Intense-Racing Team owner Max Stöckl and Intense go way back.
After over a decade together, Mondraker announced that they were stepping away from the MS-Racing team late last year, leaving us wondering what the future of MS-Racing would be. This week, Mondraker announced that they have created their first factory DH race team with Mondraker Factory Racing and now, we find out that MS-Racing has joined forces with Intense.
In a year when many companies are cutting teams and riders, Intense is now fielding not one but two World Cup DH teams with Intense Factory Racing and the newly announced MS-Intense-Racing team.
The 2024 MS-Intense-Racing team will feature most of the same roster that MS-Mondraker did including David Trummer (AUT), Eleonora Farina (ITA), Jacob Dickson (IRL) and Tuhoto Ariki Pene (NZ). Brook Macdonald and MS Racing announced late last year that they are going their separate ways in 2024.
MS-Racing and Intense go back a long way. The relationship began in the late 1990s when Intense Founder and CEO Jeff Steber started supporting a downhill racer from Austria called Max Stöckl (the MS of MS-Racing). That relationship (and a new team headed up by Team Manager Lukas Haider), flourished in the mid to late two-thousands with the formation of the MS-Intense race team. Now, almost two decades after the original team, the MS-Intense-Racing team is reborn.
MS-Intense-Racing Team owner Max Stöckl with Jeff Steberl
 | This year really feels like a return to our roots. Max and Lukas have developed such a successful and professional program over the years, and we are proud that they have chosen to work with Intense again. I'm very excited to see the new M1 under such a talented group of riders. It's going to be a great season! |
| For us it was important to find a partner with a competitive bike and a ‘die hard race attitude’ when it comes to developing bikes. We have seen the work of Intense over the past couple of years and how much the team and especially John Hall (ex IFR Team Mechanic, now Intense Technical Director) put into developing the current M1. Add to that the mastermind Jeff Steber in the background and this gives us great confidence for further success. |
| We all know that the bicycle industry is going through a bit of a crisis at the moment, and looking for a new partner was always going to be difficult, but honestly it’s so cool to be back with Intense again after so many years. Jeff and I go way back to my early race days, and I can’t think of a better brand to be working with, especially with the new M1, which has already proven to be an amazing bike. Everyone involved with MS, from the riders, mechanics and backroom staff, are looking forward to this new era and a successful partnership for years to come. |
The 2024 sponsor lineup includes Intense frames, Michelin tires, SHIMANO drivetrain and brakes, SDG saddles and seat posts, long term partners e*thirteen for wheels and chain guides, Renthal for cockpit components and Kenny Racing as a new clothing partner.
2023 was a difficult season for MS-Racing. A series of injures kept almost all of the team riders sidelined and off their bikes. David Trummer had compressed discs in his back that required surgery, Eleonora Farina sustained a broken collarbone, broken hand, and a concussion, and Jacob Dickson had a concussion at the end of 2022, followed by a car accident in 2023. Tuhoto Ariki Pene did stay injury free and won the 2023 King of Crankworx Whistler title, and even though Eleonora was injured for almost all of the 2023 season, she won the European Championships title and took fifth place at the Andorra World Cup.
| It’s super cool to be racing on an iconic brand like Intense. When I think of Intense I think of Shaun Palmer making downhill ‘class’, and Jack Moir when he had his breakthrough season. I can’t wait to get racing on the new M1. |
| Being on Intense this season is so exciting for me. After eight years racing on the same bike brand, changing and working with a new frame is going to be really interesting. Actually I can’t wait to get my hands on the new bike and start riding it. |
| Intense and the former IFR team have been working very hard on the new M1 bike. After our first tests it was obvious how much thought and racer experience went into it. I am excited to race downhill this season, and being on such a historical brand as Intense is an honor. |
| Yeah hard! Keen as to see what it’s all about. I’ve heard nothing but good talk about Intense. Pretty cool to work with some new bros and see what they have to offer, and to hopefully show them what I have too. But yeah keen as, Chur. |
MS-Racing History:
The original 2005 MS-Intense team lineup already had some big names in it, including Claudio Caluori and Petra Bernhard. Then in 2006 things got really serious when the mighty Chris Kovarik joined and the team was renamed MS-Intense-Factory-Racing. He was quickly followed by Vanessa Quin, Mio Suemasa, Matti Lehikoinen, Anneke Beerten, JD Swanguen… the list goes on. In 2006, Kovarik won his and Intense’s last (male) World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne riding on the MS team, in 2007 Max set the World Speed record for a stock bike on an Intense M6, and in 2008 the team won the World Cup 4X team overall. In 2008, this chapter of the MS-Racing and Intense story ended.
MS-Racing has over 20 years of World Cup race experience, and has had some great results. Gold and silver medals at the 2016 World Championships in Val di Sole with Danny Hart and Laurie Greenland. Silver medal at the 2010 World Champs in Mont-Sainte-Anne for Stevie Smith. Brook MacDonald, Laurie Greenland and Danny Hart all had their first World Cup victories when they were on the MS-Racing team. There are too many to list here, but the team is no stranger to the podium.
The original 2005 MS-Intense team lineup already had some big names in it, including Claudio Caluori and Petra Bernhard. Then in 2006 things got really serious when the mighty Chris Kovarik joined and the team was renamed MS-Intense-Factory-Racing. He was quickly followed by Vanessa Quin, Mio Suemasa, Matti Lehikoinen, Anneke Beerten, JD Swanguen… the list goes on. In 2006, Kovarik won his and Intense’s last (male) World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne riding on the MS team, in 2007 Max set the World Speed record for a stock bike on an Intense M6, and in 2008 the team won the World Cup 4X team overall. In 2008, this chapter of the MS-Racing and Intense story ended.
MS-Racing has over 20 years of World Cup race experience, and has had some great results. Gold and silver medals at the 2016 World Championships in Val di Sole with Danny Hart and Laurie Greenland. Silver medal at the 2010 World Champs in Mont-Sainte-Anne for Stevie Smith. Brook MacDonald, Laurie Greenland and Danny Hart all had their first World Cup victories when they were on the MS-Racing team. There are too many to list here, but the team is no stranger to the podium.
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Member since Mar 30, 2011
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Does anybody know where Gwin is gonna end up ? Dak seems to be lock that new Mondraker team right ?
Like mentioned here for example:
www.mtb-news.de/news/ms-intense-comeback
But no word on suspension partnership. Fox?