A Great 2014 Season
In 2014 Shimano’s sponsored mountain bike riders raced from victory to victory throughout the season. Starting in April with World Cup wins in Pietermaritzburg and ending with an astonishing amount of 6 World Championship titles in Hafjell last weekend. And for the first time in history, the Shimano sponsored riders claimed all overall Elite World Cup titles.
Alongside these victories Shimano introduced electronic shifting in mountain biking (XTR Di2) end of May at the World Cup in Albstadt. At the first race for XTR Di2, Julien Absalon immediately rode to victory. He proved to be the best and most consistent XCO rider in 2014, claiming 3 victories and finishing every race on the podium. The World Championship XCO title in Hafjell was icing on the cake of a very successful season for the French mountain bike legend.
Jolanda Neff (XCO) and Manon Carpenter (DHI) dominated throughout the whole season as well, winning the overall World Cup and World Championships, while Josh Bryceland (DHI) finished his World Cup season very strong with 2 wins in Mount Saint Anne and Mèribel. Gee Atherton claimed the World Championship DHI title in an again strong season for the already very successful Brit. In the women elite XCO race at the World Championships Catharine Pendrel was by far the strongest women in the race and lead from start to finish. Even a flat tire could not hold her of her second World title.
Team Shimano Strong
The statistics of the 2014 season for Shimano are impressive, throughout all mountain bike disciplines. Some remarkable statistics:- 6 x World Champion:
- XCO Women U23: Jolanda Neff
- XCO Men U23: Michiel van der Heijden
- XCO Women Elite: Catharine Pendrel
- XCO Men Elite: Julien Absalon
- DHI Women: Manon Carpenter
- DHI Men: Gee Atherton
- 4 x overall World Cup title:
- XCO Women: Jolanda Neff
- XCO Men: Julien Absalon
- DHI Women: Manon Carpenter
- DHI Men: Josh Bryceland
- 44 World Cup podium places (top 3)
- All XCO women Elite races won (7)
- BMC Mountain Bike team and Liv PRO XC team best men and women XCO Elite teams
Shimano sponsored mountain bike teams:
XCO- BMC Mountain Bike team
- Giant PRO XC team
- Liv PRO XC team
- Trek Factory racing
- LUNA Pro team
- Colnago
- Stöckli MTB team
DHI
- GT Factory Racing
- TREK World Racing
- Gstaad-Scott
- Santa Cruz Syndicate