Ridley's legacy in cyclocross and off-road racing spans decades, with more than 20 titles to our name since the start of this millennium. In 2024, we will launch a new era with the creation of the Ridley Racing Team, our first ever independently managed cyclocross team. In addition to cyclocross, the team will also compete in the world's most prestigious gravel races, building on Ridley's successful history.

Ridley's story in cyclocross began shortly after the turn of the century with the sponsorship of the Palmans-Collstrop team. Mario De Clercq became our first world champion, followed by an incredible string of successes with the Fidea Cycling Team, where Bart Wellens, Erwin Vervecken and Zdenek Stybar captured rainbow jerseys. More recently, riders such as Niels Albert, Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock, Laurens Sweeck, Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout have won prestigious titles on Ridley bikes.

Although Ridley has long served as the bike sponsor for these champions, the autumn of 2024 marks an important change. The Ridley Racing Team will be the first cyclocross team fully managed by Ridley, giving us the ideal testing platform to innovate and perfect our bikes, including the X-Night RS, our latest flagship model in this cyclocross segment.

For now, the cyclo-cross team will consist of four riders: Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands), the current Dutch champion and vice-world champion, Felipe Orts (Spain), the current and six-time Spanish champion, Daan Soete (Belgium) and Lore Sas (Belgium). Joris, Felipe and Daan will also compete on the gravel circuit, while Lore will remain linked to the Acrog-Tormans development programme on the road.

The world of off-road cycling evolved rapidly with the rise of gravelracing, and Ridley was a trendsetter in this hype. Our cyclocross history gave us a competitive advantage in designing performance gravel bikes, which we exploited with the Kanzo Fast, the world's first performance gravel bike, followed by the ASTR RS, the new benchmark for performance gravel.

We have already proven ourselves in the gravel world by supporting the Classified Gravel Team, which took 4th place at Unbound with Piotr Havik. Now the Ridley Racing Team will participate in the biggest gravel events, from the Traka to Unbound, confirming Ridley's role as an off-road trendsetter. With our athletes constantly pushing the limits, Ridley continues to refine its bikes in this fast-evolving sport.

Ridley has been working with the mountain bike team of former Olympic champion Bart Brentjens for two years. In 2024, Ridley became the team's second name sponsor, and this cooperation will grow even further. From now on, the KMC Ridley MTB Racing Team will operate under the Ridley Racing Team umbrella, underlining our commitment to mountain biking at the highest level.

The launch of the Ridley Racing Team represents an important step towards the future of off-road cycling. By creating the first professional gravel team, we are once again demonstrating our role as trendsetters in the world of cycling. Looking ahead, Ridley will also sponsor Uno-X Mobility in road races from 2025, in a partnership that will last a decade. The Belgian Bike Valley project in Beringen will continue to expand, with Ridley's own off-road team as a clear signal of our ambition to remain at the top of the industry.