The circle is complete: welcome home Styby!

From BMX, the young Stybar discovered cyclocross, and after winning two bronze medals at the Junior World Championships, he became the U23 world champion in Sankt-Wendel in early 2005. At that time, he signed his first contract at the Fidea cyclocross team where Bart Wellens was one of the leading riders. This marked the beginning of Zdenek Stybar becoming a part of our family.

In 2006, Stybar won his second world title in de U23 category, this time in Zeddam, Netherlands. It was his first title on a Ridley, marking the start of a successful partnership. The peak of this golden combination came in 2010 when the Czech rider became the world champion in Tabor, in his own country. It was his first rainbow jersey in the professional ranks. Later, his race bike was sold for 5000 euros for charity. From then on, Stybar would ride a special rainbow edition of his Ridley X-Night.

A year later, the Czech rider became the world champion once more, this time in Sankt-Wendel, Germany, after a battle against the famous Sven Nys. It was a beautiful farewell for Ridley, as Stybar would begin his road career a few weeks later. Although he occasionally returned to cyclocross and even became world champion again in 2014, Stybar would never return to full-time cyclocross racing.

Fourteen years after his world title in Tabor, Stybar will bid farewell to his professional sports career at the same location. The World Cyclocross Championships in front of his home crowd will be his last official cyclocross race, following his earlier decision to retire from road racing. For this new chapter, the Czech rider is forming his own team. For the bikes, he found his way back to his old friends in Beringen, Belgium, and reached an agreement with Ridley to conclude his career on the bikes where it all began for him. Stybar will ride our X-Night SL, a bike that has already proven its worth in the past. The frame refers to his three world titles.

Ridley will not only be the bike supplier for Stybar but will also be featured as the title sponsor on the jersey. While the current focus is on the World Championships in Tabor, the door is open for further collaboration. As an ambassador for the sport of cycling as a whole, we are more than happy to support the Czech model professional in his future endeavors.