Intense Cycles have become co-sponsors of the Swiss downhill team Suspension Center for 2011, after supplying bikes to the World Cup squad this year.
They've ended their three-year sponsorship of the Chain Reaction Cycles team. “We'd originally planned to take the CRC program we sponsored in-house and create a 'Factory Intense' team," Craig ‘Stikman’ Glaspell, Intense Cycles' marketing manager, told BikeRadar.
"But after a major sponsor we'd lined up failed to come up with the funding and decided to wait a year or two to enter mountain biking we were left hanging. We also decided to put some more effort into a proper demo tour and focus finances on some new bikes coming this spring.
"For our race efforts, I couldn't be happier with Gery [Peyer, team manager] and the Suspension Center. I've worked with Gery since the 90s and he's always run a professional outfit. He’s super passionate about racing and no-one runs a cleaner ship.” Glaspell said Intense would continue to sponsor a few dozen privateer racers throughout the world in addition to the new commitment to Suspension Center.
Team SC Intense, who will pilot a fleet of new Intense M9s, are led by Florent Payent, a former French Junior and Senior national champion. Also on the roster are: Joshua Button, a former Australian Elite national champion; Lars Peyer, a former two-time Junior Swiss national champ and podium regular in the Swiss IXS National Series; and Faustin Figaret, a promising new French Junior. They'll attend all seven UCI downhill events in 2011, along with additional select races.
Additional sponsors include: Fox Racing Shox, Formula brakes, Alpinestars, Mavic wheels, Schwalbe tires, Nukeproof components, SCprobag, Gamut chainguides, SRAM drivetrain, Scott, THE helmets, RapidRacerProducts and Turbospoke!. The team will receive support from Lindenhof Hospital, in Bern, Switzerland.
Glaspell said: “The new M9 has already secured a World Cup win with Suspension Center at Val Di Sole in 2010 and we look forward to seeing more success for the new team and the M9 in 2011."
“It’s great to be involved with Intense again for 2011 and we’re looking forward to building on the successes from 2010,” said Peyer. “We'll be continuing our 18-year racing tradition of World Cup racing and our passion for developing young talent.” Visit www.scintense.com for further information.