Scott plans the future: Who will be the new Nino Schurter?

Today, there is hardly an international mountain bike race without one or more Swiss athletes on the podium. To ensure that this remains the case in the future, Scott is now planning the future of Swiss mountain biking with a new UCI U23 team. The group of athletes is called the "Scott development MTB Team" and can count on five young talents as well as renowned support.

For 2017, Roger Gemperle has set up a new mountain bike team with a focus on U23. Since the preparations for the new group of athletes, Gemperle has been working closely with Scott Sports and the Scott-Sram mountain bike team led by Thomas Frischknecht and Nino Schurter. "A project like this is not easy to implement and requires a lot of patience and hard work. This idea was discussed in detail with Scott and Thomas Frischknecht back at the beginning of July 2016 and then submitted to Scott as a project. At the end of October, we received the "Ok, Go!", says Gemperle, describing how the team got started. The team runs under the name "Scott development MTB Team" and focuses on U23 riders who compete in the UCI circuit.

On board the brand new team are: Kevin Kuhn, Dario Gemperle, Andrin Beeli, Lucas Stritmatter and Timon Rüegg. The team riders will spend a training camp together in Piedmont at the end of March. Prior to this, part of the team will be staying in Stellenbosch in South Africa to benefit from the optimal training conditions near the Cape.

Gemperle describes the motivation for the new UCI team: "Swiss mountain bikers have been extremely successful in international comparison for many years, both in the junior and elite categories. Athletes such as Thomas Frischknecht, Nino Schurter and Christoph Sauser are proof of this pleasing fact. However, it is dangerous to rely on exceptional athletes like Schurter in the future".

Gemperle has his eye on the competition: "The international elite has gained in breadth and athletes from other countries have caught up mightily in the last five years. Despite the recent successes, more and more professional teams are disappearing from the Swiss MTB scene - presumably also due to the tight economic environment - and with them the opportunities for young, ambitious talents to find a place in an elite team."Gemperle also knows how rocky the road to becoming a professional is: "The path from junior to elite is a very difficult undertaking and requires not only talent and diligence in training. It also requires patience, ambition and optimal team structures. Our new Scott development team therefore sees itself as a stepping stone to the world's best. And will be competing with the support of Thomas Frischknecht and Nino Schurter. We will leave no stone unturned to really heat up the established riders and put one or two bike lengths in front."www.scott-development.ch