The Side Of Pro Mountain Biking The World Doesn t See

The day it's the rider on the bike turning the cranks but there's a big team around them and I think it's a long journey if you choose to do it alone versus if you do it with teammates and you can celebrate not only your wins but your teammates' wins. We're here in Malaga, Spain spending a few days with the Cannondale Factory Racing team ahead of a packed 2026 season. After a refreshed team lineup in 2025, Cannondale Factory Racing entered a new phase combining proven experience with raw emerging talent. CFR claimed victories in both XCO and Short Track World Cups with Luca Martijn and Charlie Aldridge both delivering at the highest level. Cole Punchard claiming a career-best 6th place in Lenzerheide and Jolanda Neff returning to the sharp end of racing. We're getting exclusive behind-the-scenes access to learn how riders and staff work together across testing, gym work, recovery, and road sessions to build a World Cup-winning performance. There's so many emotions for flying around you couldn't describe it to anyone that hasn't been in it and witnessed it. We're here in Malaga, out here for a bit of testing with Charlie and Jolanda. Sun's out, which it wasn't the other day so that's nice. And yeah, I think we found a good lap and a good location for a bit of suspension, tyre, wheel, just try and tick all the boxes off before the start of the season. This guy, eh? Great qualification, he just turned up one day. Do you mean? He gave him a job, yeah. I was the only mechanic at British Cycling that didn't have psychic. We felt bad for him, so yeah. Caring the community. So normally with a testing session like this we'll get the mechanic and the rider one-on-one, so Pete and myself were out this morning with Charlie and Jolanda. We're quite lucky that we've got some local knowledge here in Salva, so he picked a really nice track for the guys to do. It was a kind of six-minute loop with a bit of a climb and then a bit of a descent, so we kind of used that. The guys would do a couple of laps, they would come in and check in with us and we would make a few adjustments. So it's a good thing for us to do at the start of the year, first training camp. We can test out a few new bits of equipment and try and dial a kind of base set up in for the guys. My name is Charlie Aldridge and I'm from Scotland. This is my third year now? Yeah, I've done three years. This is now my fourth year on the team, which is crazy. Winning a World Cup was my big goal of the year. I did it twice, so that was really cool. I got the short track win and then, I don't know, I'd hit my goal, but I wanted to win an Olympic race as well. To pull that off at the last race of the year was insane. Okay, so Charlie's back after the first lap on the reserve wheel. You've got a superb back lap. I mean, it feels good. Both wheels feel very similar. Just on this kind of terrain, there's not that many kind of kicky, accelerate-y upper bits. So it's hard to tell on stiffness, but they feel perfectly fine. I know as an athlete, because when I was racing, I did the same thing and you talk at the mechanic your feelings, but you can't fully describe it. But in testing, it's more understanding what they're feeling and then what they're feeding back to the mechanic and then what the mechanic's then changing. We are following the plan with Charlie. We're doing the reserve wheel test and then the Florex Neo testing, as we never really had enough time to do the proper suspension testing with the guys last year. Obviously, new product with the wheel. We keep going with that. Some really good feedback to start with. With Yolanda, it's always a bit of a chaos. Things change during the day. You might have a plan, but then the plans change and now we're testing different tire construction against each other. It looks like we've got a really good base with the suspension, so there's no point wasting her time. We're just going to do something that she prefers. I'm Yolanda Neff. I'm from Switzerland and I ride for Kendale Factory Racing. Yeah, this was more to just kind of get a base set up. All the settings, is it your starting point for the year? Suspension, tires, what do you feel good with? As the season goes on, we always get new material. There's always more and more and more stuff that you want to be testing. It's just good to get a baseline and then we will keep doing test runs as soon as we get new stuff coming in. We can just show up to the World Cup and we know this is what we're starting at and then we also know what does it feel like to have the different options. I think it's an important part of racing. Just as important as testing the bike itself, sessions like this also give the riders chance to refine their full setup, including the gear they ride in. While the team is in a fresh set of kit this season, they stick with trusted long-term partners like Shimano for their shoes, a small detail that plays a big role when you're chasing marginal gains. I mean, do we have two radials here? Yes, that's what I mean. I would put you on a set of red rigs to do a base. You do a lap on them, see how they feel, and then we go to radials and then we go back to the normal rig. Sometimes we'll suggest things to the riders. They'll sometimes come in and say, oh, it feels a little bit this or that, and we can say, well, maybe let's try something slightly different from there. The riders are really good at knowing what they want and how they want the bike to feel as they are riding around. Testing was great. We got what we wanted out of the session. I did 12 laps in the end, set pairs of two, and yes, rear wheel feels nice. I was bombing it through the rocks and it's still straight, so that's good. Then, yes, the rear shock feels much better set up. There, it feels mega, both up the line and down the line. Yes. Obviously, these camps are super important, especially at this time of year when you've had a bit of an off-season. We've maybe not seen all the guys together. Some of us have maybe seen each other individually, but it's really important, I think, to get the whole group together and start the year off with a bang, really. As much as training camps are about training and getting the miles in, it's good to get a good vibe around the team again and really connect with each other because we're all going to spend a lot of time with each other again this year. I think one of the things that makes this team tick is just the vibe and the camaraderie and stuff. It's good to just get the ball rolling with that again. Charlie and Yolanda had a really productive morning of testing with the mechanics in Kenta. They've been back to the house and had a bite to eat. Now, they've joined the rest of the crew in the gym. Let's go see what they get up to. It's not so easy to just turn up and be at the front. The level is high in our sport in mountain bike. I think the training is really quite specific. I think it makes the athletes a little bit more resilient and helps injury prevention. Some athletes like more gym than others. Some athletes like to lift. Some like more body weight. I think it's horses for courses. Some athletes use that training stimulus more than others. Ultimately, I think it's a good piece to have in your training toolbox. I think it does help in terms of being resilient across 12 months and your backup seasons. Now, it's the section of the season that the charge in the gym is important. Each rider has a specific work because it depends what was the past of the history of each rider. It's a different plan. The session is like a mix between proprioception, jumps, balance, and for sure, also work muscle. Strength and conditioning for mountain bikers is not just about peak power. It's more about general strength. Also, just resilience. If you crash and you're not very strong, then you're going to break. Whereas, if you're a bit stronger, then you've got a bit more armor. I'm Ana Santos and I'm from Portugal. Last year was a big shock for me. I had a huge crash. I needed to return and build all again through the year. This year, I'm looking for steady year. I tell you, I'm too fast. I'm too fast. I'm from Nice and my name is Luca Martin. The goal is to learn because we are young and the project is 28. We need to win. It's like an insider. I think the main thing as young athletes is to make some mistakes, but just not have to make them again. Today, we're going to follow the riders on a four, four and a half hour road ride on the mountain bikes for a bit of endurance in the sun. Always probably the less fun activity for the guys, but I think the one that brings them on the most. Today, we're just out for a steady endurance road spin with the full crew. It should be a nice one. We have to follow the car, so easy days. It's fun to have Doc Strava, but I don't actually have Strava. Mine is more strong. The route today, one moment, my glasses on so I can see. It's uppy and downy for quite a long time. Then we get on some smaller roads. We're on small roads from the beginning to be fair, but there's a big climb around about a third of the way in. 28k into the ride. What he said. There's a 12k climb. This guy knows. I don't know why I'm doing the route. Then we go down a bit, and then we go upy downy for a bit, and then we go up again steep for how long, Cole? Five-ish k. That long, then big descent, then it's flat. Then a big descent. Do we go up and back? It's a loop, Yolanda. It's a loop. It's a lollipop. We go up and back the same way to the garage. On your mark, get set, go. The riders have rode for about 10 minutes, and we're already in the cafe stopping for a coffee. I think this is just part of being a cross-country athlete, getting your caffeine in, but I'm told this is pretty usual. They don't want to get a sweat on and then sit out in the cold, so they get their coffee in early, and then they got to four hours afterwards. I think it's good that the team can ride together, especially on road rides, if the girls are on faster tires. It balances it out a bit, and then the girls feel like they're involved. Sometimes before, if you're splitting up, it's just not quite as much of a team environment. It's always a challenge trying to balance people's powers. Some people don't want to ride slow, and they want to ride fast. My job is to keep everyone together and not biting each other's heads off. First and foremost, to get the right cake, you need the right ingredients. The cake is Siafara. With three Charlies, it wouldn't taste right, or three Coles, or three Lukas, or two Yolandas, or two Annas on the female side. When we reset the team, I really thought about the characters that we brought in. I think Yolanda and Anna fit really well together, just in terms of riding style. They're both super good on the bike. You've got Cole, that's like a Swiss clock. If we leave at nine, he's there at five-two. He's always there, versus Charlie, that's a little bit more freestyle, but really has a lot of confidence in himself and his ability. Then you have Luka, who I always call him the time bomb. They're three different characters that really want to do well in the sport, but I'm constantly teaching the guys, if they work together, they'll create a new ceiling in the sport. Can I try the bike? No, the line's over here. Hey, don't break the saddle. Yeah, I know. Oh, the brakes are like that. Sorry, I'm going like that then. Oh, it's so light. Oh, you're going to break this as well. You've got to see how's the backup in your car. Yeah, thanks for riding the cycle for us. Get in, get in. It's nice because everyone left the house a long time ago and we have a nice mix together. I think last year, in 2025, I was home for seven days total for the whole year, which was not a lot. It's more to be together as a team and to start. I mean, we never lose the connection during the off-season, but the first team camp is always exciting. We tell each other the stories during the off-season, what we did, what we didn't do, and what happened in our lives, because we are friends already. I think I spend more time with my team than with my family. So yeah, it's really important to have good times. Cannondale is my family, so having the family feel is super important. For the general population, I'm not really sure they're aware of the sacrifices and the time an athlete has to put in to get to the top of the sport. It's a beautiful journey along the way in the mountains or however you piece it together, but it's a big sacrifice for the rider, but a fun one along the way. It's important to help the riders stay balanced in their journey to be the best version of themselves and try and stand on the podium. Thanks to Cannondale Factory Racing for letting us tag along for part of their pre-season training camp. It was great to get an insight into what it takes to pull together a World Cup-level team, and we look forward to seeing how the year progresses.