Yeti drops World Cup winner Bex Baraona from enduro team
Fifth overall and fighting to find a spot for 2024?
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There is lots of talk of hard times for the bike industry this year but, even when budgets are slimmer than usual, you would think a World Cup winner would be safe. Turns out even that standard isn’t holding up anymore. Bex Baraona just shared that Yeti does not have space for her on its 2024 factory team.
The reason? Baraona says she was told she “didn’t meet their performance expectations.” Those expectations must be high as Baraona won the Derby, Tasmania round of the Enduro World Cup at the start of 2023. That helped carry the U.K. rider to fifth place overall in the series for Yeti/Fox Factory Team. Along the way, she only finished outside the top 10 once this season.
Yeti/Fox’s standards may be high, team leader Richie Rude won the men’s title. But if a World Cup winner and top-five overall rider doesn’t have a place on a team, that’s pretty rough.
Baraona is also the co-founder of the awesome Gowaan Gals, with Martha Gill.
While Baraona says she’s applied for other teams, with little luck yet, she still intends to race again in 2024.
“In a tricky situation just now but always been a firm believer that doors open and close and everything will come good!” Baraona shared. “Uncertain times but you know I’ll be riding bikes and being silly in 2024.”
