Alan Hatherly & Simon Andreassen Join Cannondale Factory Racing for 2021

Jan 8, 2021
by Sarah Moore  
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Photos by Jean Pierre Jacobs for Cannondale


Former junior CX and XC World Champion Simon Andreassen from Denmark and former U23 & E-bike World Champion Alan Hatherly from South Africa will join Henrique Avancini and Manuel Fumic on Cannondale Factory Racing for 2021. Both Andreassen and Hatherly had breakout results in 2020 riding for Specialized Bicycles, with Andreassen winning his first Elite XCO World Cup and Alan securing an Elite XCO World Cup podium.


bigquotesThis is really a dream come true to be wearing the Cannondale colors for the upcoming season and beyond. Excitement levels are high for this new journey alongside powerhouse teammates! I can’t wait for the season to commence and to get racing on the new machine with some big goals in place for the 2021 season. I’m confident that I’m going to level up and learn in this space which is also really exciting.Alan Hatherly

bigquotesIt’s with such excitement and honor that I am joining Cannondale Factory Racing. One of those scenarios where reality beats imagination. It’s a complete game changer for me - especially after being on the first team camp and seeing how professionally the team works and how much fun we have together.Simon Andreassen

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The newly formed team spent two weeks together for a small team camp to prepare for the 2021 season, where the focus will be on the UCI MTB XC World Cup, UCI World Championships, the Olympic games in Tokyo and the ABSA Cape Epic in October.


bigquotesIt’s great to see young guys with so much talent and willing to work hard toward their goals. With their talent and the Cannondale Factory Racing way of working, they going to have the tools to become important and significant athletes for our sport. CFR has developed a great working method and I believe Alan and Simon are going to have the best environment for their development. They both know what it takes to win. They both showed how fast they can go. Now it’s about learning how to be consistent and built a solid career. They add a lot of freshness and I truly believe they going to find the finest expertise on how to get the work done. CFR future looks great.Henrique Avancini

bigquotesIHaving Alan and Simon on board for 2021 and beyond, alongside World #1 Henrique Avancini, and Manuel Fumic was the next logical step for CFR. Simon and Alan are 2 of the most promising up and coming riders from the U23 and already delivered Elite World Cup podium performances in 2020. Every single rider on the team has been a World Champion in their careers already. We expect some great things from this new team composition and the fun and laughs we had at team camp are a good indicator to be on the right track.Daniel Hespeler, CFR Team Manager

bigquotesBuilding a team that is competing with the best in the world takes talent, hard work and dedication to the craft. CFR embodies every element to compete, and alongside the proven success of our returning riders both Alan and Simon raise the bar once more for the team.Jonathan Geran, Cannondale Global Director of Sports Marketing


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Simon Andreassen
• Current Elite XC Danish National Champion
• 2020 Nove Mesto World Cup winner (first elite race/1st round)
• Former Jr. World Champion in XCO and Cyclocross
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Alan Hatherly
• Former U23 XCO World Champion
• Former e-bike World Champion 2019
• 5th at 2020 Nove Mesto World Cup (2nd round)
• South African Elite XC National Champion
• Former African Jersey winner at Cape Epic

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Andreassen will be competing in his first race as a Cannondale athlete on Saturday, 9 January, at the Danish National Cyclocross Championships.

Author Info:
sarahmoore avatar

Member since Mar 30, 2011
1,319 articles

22 Comments
  • 14 0
 Cannondale wants an Olympic medal...young strong talents, national champs...they'll have lots of bikes at the start line of the Tokyo games...if it ever gets under way.
  • 5 1
 Tokyo Olympic MTB course is very exiting.
  • 3 0
 If the Games go ahead, Orbea isn't falling behind. Orbea Factory Team: Isla Short (UK), and Team KMC-Orbea: Annie Last (UK), Malene Degn (Denmark), Milan Vader (Netherlands), and Victor Koretzky (France).

I agree with @usuusu, the track layout looks very promising: Tokyo 2020 Test Event
  • 1 0
 @usuusu: When it´s wet, we will see a lot of hikers.
  • 6 0
 It doesnt really make any sense to me why specialized would let go of two young talents that they've been developing for years. Kind of like Kate Courtney all over again.
  • 5 0
 I suspect maybe they were still on smaller packages seeing as they were "developing" riders, possibly the other teams offered better packages than what Spez was offering as increases...
  • 6 0
 Yeah, totally agree. You’d expect Specialized to be poaching the most promising young riders when they break through. Instead it’s the other way around. It’s baffling.

Sarrou is a good signing, with the rainbow stripes and all, but he’s more than halfway through his career with exactly one big win. Andreasson had the same number of top-level wins after his very first race.
  • 1 0
 Have to remember a lot of contracts get negotiated before and during the season, so even if a rider like Kate has her breakout season, the decision/contract was already made by rider/team.

Specialized is a bit unique in that it's not running as an entirely separate entity with a fixed budget, where Specialized is merely a title sponsor. Specialized global HQ are fully involved, and if there's an opportunity to just buy a world championship, no doubt the guys in California are going to put some pressure and figure out a way to make the numbers work.
  • 1 0
 Things just got more interesting. Kerschbaumer and Frei to Specialized. So I guess they weren't just sitting still.

Kerschi and Sarrou are very, very good, but trading two young phenoms for late/mid career guys seems like a step backwards...

But on the women's side, they now have Stigger and Frei, which is a pretty kickass duo.
  • 1 0
 @nattyd: yeah now the Specialized has annouced their full team, you understand why they let go of two riders (or the rider left I don't know)
  • 1 0
 @nattyd: I see your point, but I think they wanted men that can consistently contend now. Sarrou and Kershbaumer give them that and they should be in that position for the remainder of their contracts. There will always be young talent out there to identify, so they have these guys for now and then they develop whoever they believe in for the future.
  • 5 0
 After their World Cup performances I did not see these two leaving Specialized, I was actually just watching the Nove Mesto race while riding the trainer the other night. CFR will have a very strong team this year.
  • 5 0
 This season of XCO racing is gonna be interesting!
  • 3 1
 Very very strong team!!

I guess, Gerhard Kerschbaumer will join SPECIALIZED. Sina Frei is....???
iimonodakeosekaikara.blog.jp/archives/25873156.html
  • 1 1
 Don't forget Emily Batty, free from Trek. I don't expect to see her at Specialized but who knows...
  • 1 0
 Frei is with Specialized, along with Kerschbaumer, Stigger, and Sarrou
  • 4 0
 Cannondale assembled the strongest team
  • 2 0
 Children ride and jump better than me, that 57 year old stoner rides and jumps better than me, now the XC lycra crowd rides better than me.
  • 4 0
 This is a TOttall Power team. excited to see big things from this squad.
  • 4 0
 Wow. Exceptional team.
  • 6 5
 In other news...is Cannondale the bicycle industry's version of the cockroach?

You think you killed them. You saw them die.

But here they are...again.
  • 3 0
 I want to be like these guys therefore I will buy a cannondale







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