For 2025, the Decathlon Ford Racing Team continues its adventure and sets itself new objectives. Beyond new colors, the French team welcomes a new driver as well as new partners. We infiltrated the first team meeting of the year in Girona in mid-January. But what purpose can a team camp serve and what does it look like exactly? Behind the scenes and explanations:
It is in Girona, in Catalonia, that the Decathlon Ford Racing Team met us for its first team camp of the 2025 season. An essential cycling destination in Europe, Girona has carved out a place of choice in recent years thanks to its easy accessibility, its mild winter climate and its highly developed cycling infrastructure.
Major arguments when trying to bring together drivers from the four corners of the globe (and all the staff who gravitate around them) before the start of the season!
Workforce: time for presentations!
Time for presentations: it is in the company of the Decathlon Ford Racing Team 2025 that we will spend the week. With departures and arrivals, the composition of the French team has changed during this 2024-2025 off-season.
We learned during the off-season, Belgian national champion Emeline Detilleux and Mathis Azzaro are heading to other horizons for this new season, while Maxime Marotte announced his retirement from sport during the World Cup round. des Gets.
For 2025, we find Joshua Dubau, Greta Seiwald, Savilia Blunk, Samara Maxwell… and a little new one!
For 2025, we find Joshua Dubau, Greta Seiwald, Savilia Blunk, Samara Maxwell… and a little new one.
The arrival of the German David List! After 10 years spent with the Lexware MTB Team, and several feats of arms in 2024, the young driver from Friborg seized the opportunity and joined the ranks of the Decathlon Ford Racing Team.
We took a moment to chat with him, ask him a few questions before heading towards the best trails in Girona. All of this can be found right here:
We also took a moment to chat with Frenchman Joshua Dubau:
Reigning Oceania continental champion, Samara Maxwell did not travel to Europe for this team camp, ideally to complete her preparation before defending her title at the end of March. However, the team wanted to say hello to their teammate as soon as they arrived in Girona, despite a 12-hour time difference.
First mission: the photo shoot
Who says start of the season, says creation of content for the year to come, but especially for the official presentation of the team.
An exercise that can be a little intimidating at first, but which made the group of pilots laugh!
The bike, in its new colors, is also there…
Just like the staff… Mechanic Théo Mougenel is ready for the exercise, all smiles!
We may not realize it from the outside, but preparing a team's official start-of-season presentation takes time and energy! In addition to studio photos, the team spent several hours in the city of Girona to prepare the various content for social networks and sponsors.
Without forgetting the famous action photos!
An exercise that can sometimes be long, in addition to the workload imposed by the training program. Joshua Dubau and David List on break.
It's time to discover your new bike for the season!
A team camp is also an opportunity to discover your bike in its final version before the start of the season… especially when it changes significantly compared to the previous season! You can see in this top photo, the Rockrider Race 940S didn't just change colors during this winter…
For this 2025 season, the Decathlon Ford Racing Team has surrounded itself with new partners: RockShox electronic suspensions, Zipp 1Zero Hitop wheels, Vittoria tires, Darimo cockpit… For the most curious, we have reserved a dedicated bike-check article for you : Bike-check | Decathlon Ford Racing Team: what if we changed everything?
« I really have the impression that we are reaching a milestone in terms of suspensions this year. I also have to say that I love our new colors », Confides Italian pilot Greta Seiwald.
Discovering is good, refining your settings is better
This first contact with the bike – at least with this new equipment – results in additional testing and adjustment work for the riders and their mechanics.
A truth even truer for the electronic suspensions that few of the team's drivers have had the opportunity to try until now. This is therefore the great discovery of the Flight Attendant, its possibilities and the application associated with it.
For David List, the work is all the more important since he has to acclimatize to this new bike, after several years spent riding a Scott Spark. “ It's surprising to change bikes, it takes a little time. When I tried the bike last November I was surprised, it's very different from my previous one but it's a great bike! “, he confides.
For the other riders, almost the entire bike has been modified during this winter and you have to take the time to find the settings that suit everyone in terms of suspension, tire pressure, position on the bike. , etc. Savilia Blunk, pictured here, seems to have quickly found her feet!
We adjust the settings according to feelings on the ground…
And we're off for a ride!
Meet your partners for the coming year
With the offices of Tactic – the team's textile partner – located in Girona, the Decathlon Ford Racing Team took the opportunity to visit the brand's premises and present its new colors to the public.
Because yes, as you may have discovered in the photos in this article, the French team has changed colors for this year 2025!
This meeting at Tactic is the ideal time for employees of the Spanish brand to meet and interact with the athletes for whom they have designed the products.
We also took advantage of being in Girona to put together a tour of the brand's workshops for you, we'll talk to you about it shortly.
Whether in person for some partners who had the opportunity to join the team in Girona, or by videoconference for others, the partners made a point of meeting the athletes and listening to their feedback and wishes for the coming season… L The objective is to enable pilots to perform optimally, while developing products with them. A bit like an open-air laboratory, this allows the brand to develop the mass-produced products of tomorrow!
Good time and training
A team camp, as you will have understood, is a lot of work, both for the drivers who are in high demand, but also for the staff who surround them. It is also a timeless moment, where this second family reunites after a long winter spent at home and before returning to prepare for the first competitions each on their own.
In this epicenter of mountain biking in winter, we also end up meeting friends from other teams on the trails around Girona. Alongside the new Scott Sram recruit Bjorn Riley, the American Nicholas Konecny who now wears the colors of David List's former team… Funny coincidence!
After spending this week with the Decathlon Ford Racing Team, we better understand the team's philosophy: here, everything is done to allow the athletes to perform in the best way. This requires quality equipment, competent staff… but above all a predominant human aspect! If this whole little family is focused on a performance objective, this is done in a summer camp atmosphere where everyone can find their place and flourish!
We warmly thank the Decathlon Ford Racing Team for opening its doors to us and welcoming us into its ranks during this week. We wish good luck to all the drivers, and we can't wait to see them at the first competitions in a few weeks!
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