XC FIREPOWER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs the current elite men\u2019s world champion and overall XC World Cup champion\u2014as well as the men\u2019s bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in Paris\u2014Hatherly leads a formidable four-man XC squad that also includes returning athletes Jens Schuermans of Belgium, Dario Lillo of Switzerland, and Canadian Carter Woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schuermans is coming off a strong 2024 season that included four top-10 World Cup finishes highlighted by an XCC podium at Val di Sole, Italy. The 31-year-old also represented Belgium at the Paris Summer Games, overcoming a fractured hand to compete in his third Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lillo tore up the U23 men\u2019s category in 2024, earning three wins and eight podiums to finish fourth overall. This year Lillo, who turns 23 in April, moves up to the elite men\u2019s category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woods, the 2023 Canadian men\u2019s XC national champion, also has multiple U23 World Cup wins to his name. The 23-year-old moved up to the elite ranks last year, and although he was sidelined with a lingering mid-season illness, he came back strong toward the end of the year and finished top-15 at Lake Placid, New York, his best result yet as an elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All four XC athletes have their choice of race bikes depending on conditions and terrain. The Anthem Advanced 29 full-suspension bike is the go-to machine for technical courses and the XtC Advanced SL 29 hardtail is the choice for smooth, fast XC tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DOUBLE DUTY FOR HATHERLY<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHatherly comes to the team in a combined program with Giant\u2019s WorldTour road racing partner Team Jayco AlUla. He plans to compete in most MTB World Cup races throughout the year while also gaining experience on the road with the Australian-based Team Jayco AlUla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am incredibly excited for this new chapter in my cycling career and very grateful for the opportunity to ride for [Team Jayco AlUla ownership group] GreenEDGE Cycling for the next two seasons,\u201d Hatherly said. \u201cCombining road and MTB is new and refreshing, and I am really looking forward to where this journey can go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tIn addition to racing World Cup XC races for the Giant Factory Off-Road Team this year, Hatherly will also pursue road racing goals with Giant\u2019s partner WorldTour squad Team Jayco AlUla.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDH SQUAD GETS DEEPER<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWith World Cup podiums and national championships, 2024 was a successful season for the DH racers of the Giant Factory Off-Road Team. This year the squad looks to continue its upward trajectory, adding the Jewett brothers to strengthen its roster. Jakob Jewett, the current Canadian elite men\u2019s national champion, and his younger brother Dane Jewett will join returning riders R\u00e9mi Thirion from France and Luke Meier-Smith of Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to his national championship title, Jakob, age 21, also won the Canadian Open DH race at Crankworx Whistler last year and finished second at Crankworx Rotorua in New Zealand. \u201cI\u2019m super excited to be joining the Giant Factory Off-Road Team for 2025 and beyond,\u201d Jakob said. \u201cI\u2019ve already had a handful of days on the Glory Advanced DH bike and it\u2019s feeling good! I\u2019ve set my goals high for the upcoming season and I\u2019m ready to put in the work. With support from the team, I\u2019m more motivated than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jakob\u2019s brother Dane, age 18, was a consistent World Cup podium finisher in the junior men\u2019s category and finished fourth overall in the series. This year Dane moves up to the elite men\u2019s ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirion brings veteran leadership and a winning track record to the team following a strong 2024 campaign that saw him add two more World Cup podiums to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, bringing his career total to nine. He finished the season with a strong 11th<\/sup> place overall ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe team\u2019s other returning talent, 21-year-old Luke Meier-Smith, won his second straight elite men\u2019s national title in Australia in 2024, and had a solid World Cup season highlighted by his 11th<\/sup> place finish at the finals in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe downhill racers will all compete primarily on the Glory Advanced DH bike, which the team helped develop and test over the past few seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SHARPER FOCUS ON XC AND DH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOver a long history that goes back 30 years, the Giant Factory Off-Road Team has continued to adapt and change with the sport. For 2025, the team will again evolve with a pause on its enduro racing program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe team was an early supporter of enduro since the inaugural Enduro World Series in 2013,\u201d Boyington said. \u201cRight now, the level of competition in World Cup racing is incredibly high, and sharpening our focus on XC and DH was a necessary decision for our goals in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving on from the enduro squad are Youn Deniaud, who announced his retirement from racing in 2024, and Sascha Kim, who will continue in a new role as a global athlete ambassador. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for Giant\u2019s continued support with my riding and personal development as an athlete and ambassador, and I\u2019m excited about the opportunity to take on new challenges and projects outside of just racing,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2025 Giant Factory Off-Road Team <\/u><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alan Hatherly (South Africa), XC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dane Jewett (Canada), DH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jakob Jewett (Canada), DH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dario Lillo (Switzerland), XC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Meier-Smith (Australia), DH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jens Schuermans (Belgium), XC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
R\u00e9mi Thirion (France), DH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter Woods (Canada), XC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our champ. Alan Hatherly is changing things up for 2025 with a new team and double duty on the road and mountain. Get the full press release from Giant Bicycles below: Building on a successful 2024 season, the Giant Factory Off-Road Team has assembled a talented squad of cross-country and downhill athletes with its sights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":70856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5332],"tags":[134,35,2566],"featured_location":[337],"class_list":["post-70855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","tag-alan-hatherly","tag-giant","tag-giant-bicycles","featured_location-top-row"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70867,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70855\/revisions\/70867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70855"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=70855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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