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Trek-Pirelli mountain bike team announced

  • Ron 

The Trek–Pirelli MTB team is born with a greater commitment from the Italian tire manufacturer to Marco Trentin’s team.

Throughout 2020, Pirelli will be co-title sponsor, while confirming its wholehearted commitment not only towards the team but to the entire world of Cross-Country mountain biking. All efforts are focused on reaching the topmost positions of the XCM and that’s not all. This year, the team also has its eye on the XCO.

Throughout the coming season, similarly to 2019, Michele Casagrande, Gioele De Cosmo, Damiano Ferraro, Samuele Porro and Fabian Rabensteiner will be riding with Pirelli Scorpion MTB tires. Just a few months from their official launch in March 2019, Pirelli Scorpion MTB tires have scored their first victories: a third place in the extremely tough Cape Epic, with Porro and Ferraro, two Italian national jerseys –one for Porro’s in the marathon race and another for De Cosmo’s Under 23 XCO – and, last but not least, two splendid medals – a European silver medal and a World bronze – also achieved by a fantastic Samuele Porro.

Pirelli’s Scorpion range currently comprises four treads specifically designed for different terrain types: H hard-packed and smooth, M for mixed terrains, S for soft, inconsistent terrains and R (rear) multi-purpose. The supporting technology behind the performance of the tires and, consequently, that of the team, is SmartGRIP Compound: a chemical formulation developed and produced by Pirelli technicians in response to the needs expressed by the team’s athletes, to ensure high resistance to punctures and an optimal grip at all times, no matter what the weather conditions, and throughout the life cycle of the tire.

Available in 29” x 2.2 and 2.4, with LITE or reinforced carcass, the Scorpion range for Cross Country racing comprises as many as 15 versions, including the colour variants of Yellow and Classic. Porro and his teammates, according to the discipline and the trail being tackled, will use both the LITE and reinforced versions for their Trek Supercaliber and Top Fuel bikes, strictly in racing yellow, true to the Pirelli tradition in terms of competition tires.

For 2020, the Trek Pirelli team has set its sights even higher: it aims at excelling in the XCM races, but also nurtures ambitions for the XCO, with the World Championship and the ever-popular World Cup. Their plans also comprise the Olympics, with the focus on XCO, of course. Their first commitment will be the gruelling ABSA Cape Epic, scheduled to take place next 14 March.

In the words of Francesco Pietrangeli, Managing Director Pirelli Bicycle Division: “An important partnership with a team at the top of the international Cross-Country scene. As always, our collaboration with the team is aimed at exchanging technical feedback for the development of increasingly high performing tires. I can anticipate that we are working side by side with Marco Trentin’s athletes on important new developments”.

Marco Trentin, Team Manager of Trek Pirelli: “We are enthusiastic about Pirelli’s enhanced commitment towards the team in 2020. This is an ambitious team with many young talents, destined to grow now and in the future. From the start, we have created an excellent synergy with Pirelli, particularly with regard product improvement based on our feedback. In 2019, we were the only top team able to avoid punctures at the Cape Epic and we triumphed at the Swiss Epic by exploiting the excellent traction of Scorpion tires on wet ground. The two Italian championships, a World bronze medal and a European silver, the third place obtained at the Cape Epic and the victory at the Swiss Epic have all been possible thanks to Pirelli Scorpion”.

Tags: bicycle, cross country, Cross-country cycling, Cycle racing, cycling, Europe, Marathon mountain bike races, mountain biking, Olympics, Pirelli, racing, sports, technology, Tire, World Championship, World Cup
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