Meet Trek Factory Downhill's brand new bunch! | Trek Race Shop (original) (raw)

Lachie Stevens-McNab, Matt Walker and Ollie Davis are ready to give it their all

Say hello to the revamped Trek Factory Racing Downhill squad for 2025!

Lachie Stevens-McNab is joining TFR off of a breakout season with The Union. He’ll be joined by steely veteran Matt Walker, and close friend and certified shredder Ollie Davis. Sacha Earnest returns to tackle her first year of Elite level racing. And Chris Hauser and Ella Svegby are coming along as development riders.

Big changes are coming to downhill racing — new formats, new venues, and ever-more competitive fields. That’s why TFR will be rolling strong into the pits this World Cup season. There’ll be no shortage of great moments, especially at World Cup DH/XC events when Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli XC also joins the fun.

Get ready for a killer year and meet the new TFR DH squad below.

From left to right: Ollie Davis, Sacha Earnest and Lachie Stevens-McNab, TFR's bright young class of Elite riders.

Lachie Stevens-McNab was one of 2024's most exciting riders

The 20-year-old Kiwi may have finished 33rd in Poland, but the performance was a breakout nonetheless. He had the fastest time in finals through three splits, and was looking strong to win but for a washout on an easy left turn. No matter: Lachie proved he had the pace, and then confirmed it with a third-place finish in Leogang and second-place finish in Mont-Sainte-Anne.

He is already well-acquainted with racing on a Session, joining TFR after two seasons with The Union, one of downhill racing’s most successful development squads. He won’t have much of an adjustment, given how closely The Union and TFR worked together last season. Even one of his new teammates will be a familiar face: He and Ollie Davis raced together on The Union in 2023, and have been fast friends ever since.

“I was so stoked when he was telling me about joining the team. I was like, ‘I don’t want to tell you what to do, but [expletive] it’d be sick,'” Lachie said. “We both want the best for each other. We really work together.”

Lachie putting to moves on Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Lachie is as humble as he is fast. When he’s not racing, he enjoys being home in New Zealand, taking in some of the most pristine landscape this great Earth has to offer. But come Round 1 of the World Cup, he’ll be anxious to keep building upon the glimpses of potential he gave us in 2024.

“When I look back at some of my goals that I’ve written down, I’m completing those goals every weekend. And I’m happy, but I feel like my views on it have changed,” Lachie said. “It’s cool to look back and read some of the stuff I’ve written down and be like, ‘Damn.’ My goals have only gotten higher.”

Matt Walker has podiums on his mind.

Matt Walker is hungry for a fresh start

Matt is just 25 years old, but in 2025 he’ll be the grizzled veteran of TFR DH at nearly five years older than Lachie, the next oldest rider on the squad. He’s looking forward to being surrounded by hungry whippersnappers. The 2020 overall World Cup winner joined TFR so that he could experience a change of scenery with a team he has long admired.

“Trek is doing something right,” Matt said. “I’ve often talked to riders about different teams, and I haven’t heard anyone say anything negative towards the atmosphere, the vibe, the way the brand is set up, the people in it. It has a presence at World Cup races.”

Matt has the raw pace to match anyone on the World Cup circuit. Last season, he posted the fastest time in qualifying in Mont-Sainte-Anne to go with a 10th-place finish in Fort William and 11th-place finish at World Championships in Andorra. Matt also has three Elite British Downhill national titles, and scored an Elite World Cup win in Leogang in 2022.

Honestly, I couldn't have hoped to get on with everyone any better than I did.

- Matt Walker

After nine seasons with his previous team, he decided it was time for a fresh start. He met his new TFR teammates at a team camp in California. Not only did the whole crew get along, Matt found that they were all as focused as he is.

“Straight away, we’re having a good time, laughing,” Matt said. “And I think everyone really knows or understands that balance between having a good time and getting on with each other, and also doing the job well. They understand the task at hand and what we want to do, and everyone’s focused and working hard towards achieving a common goal.

“Honestly, I couldn’t have hoped to get on with everyone any better than I did.”

One cool dude.

The sport of downhill racing is getting tougher every year. Not only is the field annually injected with more talented young riders, but new rules restrictions have drastically reduced the number of riders who can qualify for World Cup finals. But Matt is hungrier and more motivated than ever. He’s ready to snag podiums and show what a man from a village in Shropshire, England can do on the world’s biggest stage.

“There’s lads locally to me who don’t necessarily see that riding for a big brand such as Trek is achievable,” Matt said. “I want to let them know that I’ve got two arms and two legs just like them. So if they want it bad enough, it can happen.”

Ollie Davis is a gem both on and off the track.

It's Ollie Davis' time to shine

Ollie might just be the nicest young man you will ever meet. One of his favorite offseason activities is taking his Nan out to coffee once a week — “Sometimes we get breakfast. If not, we just sit down by the river and have a coffee. I love doing that.”

Don’t let the humble and genial exterior fool you, however. Therein lies one of the most determined riders on the World Cup circuit. In 2024, he scored one of the best results of his career when he took eighth at World Championships in Andorra. But after the run, he was fixated on what he could have done better.

“I was happy to put down the run and be where I know I should be,” Ollie said. “But to be honest, the way I was feeling on track that week, and the way I was riding, I think it should have been a bit more. My run wasn’t all that great. So it was bittersweet.”

I think that's pretty special to look back on and see how we've got here.

- Ollie Davis

Ollie is working hard to make sure he sees the positives in every performance, even as he holds himself to high standards. As he should, because by any measure his 2024 was a success. Ollie stepped in for an injured Jackson Goldstone on the Santa Cruz Syndicate and qualified for four World Cup finals. And at Worlds, he was less than two seconds off Loris Vergier’s winning run in a fiercely competitive final.

With TFR, the 20-year-old Aussie will receive more support than he ever has in his career. Not only that, but he’ll be linking up with one of his closest mates. He and Lachie Stevens-McNab had always dreamed of racing together on a factory team. And though downhill racing is an individual sport, they’ve been invested in each other’s success even when they’ve been on different teams, doing track walks and sharing course insights with each other. That camaraderie stretches back to their days together on The Union.

“I think that’s pretty special to look back on and see how we’ve got here,” Ollie said. “Especially coming from The Union. It was a non-profit team, and the budget wasn’t that big, so you had to make it work. At times it could be a bit rough around the edges, but it made it so fun. It kept you humble, and it makes you appreciate all the small things.”

Ella Svegby (left) on the World Champs podium with Sacha Earnest (right).

Ella Svegby and Christian Hauser join TFR as devo riders

Sacha Earnest will now be the third youngest rider on the team as she prepares for her first season in the Elite ranks at just 18 years old. She’s more than ready for the step up after raking in six Junior World Cup and World Championship podiums in 2024. More importantly, she’ll have the chance to be a leader in the pits to two exciting development riders with massive potential.

Ella scored a Junior World Cup podium of her own in Les Gets last season, and took second place at World Championships to break up what would have been an all-Kiwi Top 4. The 17-year-old Swede has every reason to be aiming for the top step in 2025.

2024 UCI MTB World Championships, La Massana, Andora.

Chris is another former Union member. He was primed for a big 2024 after taking a Junior World Cup win and two podiums in 2023. However, injuries kept him from reaching the full height of his expectations. In 2025 he’ll be a first-year Elite with an excellent crew of riders to emulate, including two former Union teammates in Lachie and Ollie.

World Cup racing kicks off on May 16 in Bielsko-Biala, Poland. This crew’s potential and excitement for this season is through the roof. You won’t want to miss a moment, we promise.

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