Connor Fearon and Luca Shaw move to new teams for 2022
Two long-term partnerships come to a close
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
Both Connor Fearon and Luca Shaw are headed to new teams in the new year. That ends two of the longer-lasting partnerships on the World Cup circuit.
Fearon spent 10 years at Kona, racing primarily downhill with the occasional EWS mixed in. Shaw’s been on Santa Cruz for seven years now, including five years on the high-profile Syndicate team.
Both teams posted farewells to their long-serving riders.
Kona – Thanks for Ten Years Connor
Fearon’s been a constant presence on the World Cup scene for that entire decade. Along with results, he’s maintained cult status as one of the last racers left riding flat pedals instead of clips at the top level of the sport.
Syndicate also posted its farewells to Luca Shaw. The U.S. racer was part of the elite Syndicate team for five years. Poised on the verge of a major breakthrough for years, Shaw found the podium on home soil at the end of 2021 with a fifth at Snowshoe, W.Va.
Shaw isn’t the only U.S. downhill rider on the move. Dakota Norton is also looking for a new home after YT announced it would be shuttering its World Cup team, the YT Mob. That means two of America’s top downhill racers are, until we hear otherwise, freelancing in the new year.
