Today was the grand launch of the new Intense Racing UK team, managed by UK Intense distributor Saddleback.
The Saddleback crew invited dealers and media along to their fancy new HQ to run through the team line up and give us an idea of the ethos behind the team.
The line up is Charlie Hatton, Ajay Jones, Joe Breedan, Andrew Titley, Jess Greaves, Sam Flockhart and Olly Morris … two names of which you’ll have seen a lot of here on Wideopen in 2016! The team will have Indie Bike Co’s Nath Carr and Andy Lund on the spanners and MTB Strength Factory’s Ben Plenge coaching.
The riders were apparently selected after an XFactor style audition day at Revolution Bike Park. Saddleback’s team invited riders to spend the day with them, ride and get to know each other. They picked riders based on their results but more importantly “whether they were good people to work with”.
Saddleback’s Martin Astley gave us a quick run through the team and explained that they wanted to make “the team that everyone in the UK wants to be on”. They’ll do this buy offer the best of the best kit from Intense, Enve, Chris King and Troy Lee Designs and by offering the best support through team management, mechanics and coaching.
The team will sit under the Intense Factory team – focussing on UK and European events. In the UK you’ll see them racing at the British Downhill Series, POC Scottish Enduro Series, Ard Moors and Ard Rock, Welsh Gravity Enduros and Mini Enduros.
Watch the full team presentation here, from our live stream:
Live at saddleback for the Intense Racing UK launch Saddleback Ltd Intense Cycles Inc
Live at saddleback for the Intense Racing UK launch Saddleback Ltd Intense Cycles Inc
Posted by Wideopenmag.co.uk on Tuesday, 7 March 2017
You can follow the team on Instagram here.
