In the 2017 season, Cannondale Factory Racing (CFR) welcomes female riders to the team for the first time in its history - sisters Helen and Hannah Grobert from Freiburg. Helen Grobert, a 2016 Olympian, won two U23 World Cup races and was German cross-country champion in 2015. She will enrich the team with her likeable nature, her potential for the future and her high level of motivation. Her sister Hannah, a junior rider in the U23 class, will be the youngest member of the team, providing a breath of fresh air and supporting Helen on her way.

Maxime Marotte from France, number three in the UCI world rankings in 2016 and in the overall World Cup standings, enriches the team in the elite men's sector. As the outstanding protagonist in 2016, Marotte also looks back on a successful past. In addition to eight podium finishes in cross-country World Cups, Marotte achieved fourth place at the 2016 Olympic Games and was twice European Team Relay Champion with France

Previous CFR athletes, Manuel Fumic from Germany and Henrique Avancini from Brazil, who both took part in the 2016 Olympic Games and won the final stage of the 2016 ABSA Cape Epic together, will complete the team for 2017
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"We have realigned Cannondale Factory Racing for the long term and are repositioning ourselves for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Until then, we are fully focused on the 2017 World Cup season and, for the first time, on the overall classification of the Absa Cape Epic," says Team Manager Daniel Hespeler. "We are counting on the experience and consistency of Fumic and Avancini and are strengthening ourselves with Marotte and Grobert in order to send the team onto the world's mountain bike race courses as well prepared as possible."

Cannondale Factory Racing stands for competitive sport at the highest level, paired with a good dose of style and an eye for the future of the sport. The team for 2017 is characterized by personality, experience and the common goal of achieving great things.

The end of the "Fontana" chapter

When a new chapter begins, another one always ends. Long-time Cannondale athletes Marco Aurelio Fontana and Anton Cooper left the team at the end of the 2016 season.

"I've been riding Cannondale bikes for the last eight years," says Fontana. "I'm lucky to have worked with people I can call true friends for so long. I have a lot of respect for what Cannondale has done for me and the sport of cross-country and I will always look at Cannondale bikes with a smile on my face simply because I know what it feels like to ride them."

"We had many great years with Marco and Anton, but everything comes to an end," says Team Manager Hespeler. "Marco came to us as a youngster and leaves the team as an Olympic bronze medal-winning star of the cross-country scene, while Anton not only became U23 World Champion for us, but was also the youngest rider ever to win an U23 World Cup race. I can only thank Marco and Anton for all they have achieved for Cannondale and the team and wish them all the best for the future."

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