After three years, and a few world championships titles, RockShox Trek Race Team is closing shop. With that announcement, elite women’s world champion Valentina Höll and Pemberton, B.C.’s Tegan Cruz will be headed to new teams for 2024.
RockShox Trek Race Tem started in 2021 with a four rider roster. Along with Höll, already a massively talented and accomplished racer, there were two Canadians on the original roster. That included Cruz as well as North Vancouver’s Ethan Shandro.
By 2023, the team whittled that roster down to just Höll, now the elite women’s world champion and World Cup overall winner, and Cruz.
With Höll’s constant success over the last two years, it is not surprising that the young Austrian would attract interest, and likely serious financial commitment, from a major team. While RockShox Trek was built around her, to allow her freedom as she moved from juniors to elite racing, it is fitting that she will likely join a top squad in 2024.
Tegan Cruz also built an extensive list of accomplishments while with the RockShox Trek program. The Pemberton, B.C. racer earned two Candian downhill national championships titles, in 2021 in the under-17 category and in 2022 as a first-year junior. 2022 saw Cruz add several World Cup junior podiums. While injuries slowed Cruz’s 2023 slightly, he did earn sixth in junior men’s downhill at world championships and earned second behind Dane Jewett at the Canadian Open DH on the newly-finished 1199 downhill course.
In 2024, Tegan Cruz will graduate into the elite category. Though there’s no news yet of what team that will be with, it would be surprising if the talented young Canadian didn’t already have something sorted out.
From RockShox and Trek Race Shop:
“Every story starts with the potential for dreams to come true. In 2021, RockShox Trek Race Team emerged onto the World Cup circuit embodying this spirit of youth and chasing the allure of glory. With 14 World Cup podiums, 8 World Cup wins, 2 World Championship Titles, and 2 World Cup Elite Overall titles, we’d say they found it.
As the sun sets on 2023, the RockShox Trek Race Team bids farewell to the world stage. Its legacy, etched in the racetracks, podiums, and titles, symbolizes the union of youth and glory. While this may be “The Finish” for the RockShox Trek Race Team, a new dawn awaits these riders on the next chapter of their careers, and we couldn’t be more proud of how far they’ve come and where…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…