The rumour mill can finally chill, the truth has emerged from one of the worst kept secrets of the off-season. Canyon’s Factory DH Team dropping the news they’re bringing Australia’s top ranked DH’er to their two-wheeled party. Troy Brosnan joining fast as all hell Canadian Mark Wallace and Scotland’s Ruaridh Cunningham, with all gunning for individual, team and overall wins aboard the Canyon Sender CF on the UCI Downhill World Cup circuit, as well as other top-flight downhill events throughout the season.
“It has been amazing for me coming to Canyon. It’s really like a small family where you know all of the right people, in all of the right places, and if you want something done, it doesn’t have to go through too many people to actually get to the top.” Troy Brosnan
The goal of the CFDT is to equip the best riders in the world with the best setup, and provide them with a team and support system unlike any other on the scene. Leading up the project is multiple World Champion, Fabien Barel, who will, in his own words, be responsible for “putting the right people and the right structure together to bring our bike and our riders up on the podium.”
“Our bike” being the dialled Sender CF. Troy, Ruaridh and Mark will be the first riders to race Canyon’s flagship downhill bike at World Cup level. And even closer to home, they’ll be racing Round One of the National DH Series at Awaba this weekend, a track that should suit both the Sender and Troy. Can I get a ‘hell yeah’ for UCI Factory Teams rolling National races?
Canyon sound eager to work with the new team to gain in-depth feedback and further advance their mountain bike and downhill techs. Barel, who works extremely closely with Canyon’s Development Department (just check their Strive frame for the detail!) echoed the sentiment saying,
“I believe that downhill is the Formula One of bike racing and that more generally racing is the best method for developing a bike. Being at the top of the World Cup circuit with our bike will definitely raise the bar for the performance and technology of the product and hopefully bring us to a new level!” Fabien Barel
After a busy off-season including extensive testing and visiting Koblenz to see the Canyon HQ and meet the engineers, the riders are ready to blaze the trails on their new rides. We’ll see them first hand this weekend which will give those lucky enough to watch an insight into the speed they’ll be carrying worldwide this year.