Norco gambles big on Greg Minnaar

Today Norco officially announced one of the worst-kept secrets of 2024 transfer season: Greg Minnaar is joining Norco Factory Racing. Seeing the G.O.A.T. on a Canadian team is, obviously, a thrilling start to the year for Canadian fans. But is signing Minnaar actually a good idea for Norco? That is less clear.

We are huge Greg Minnaar fans. It is thrilling and, for those of us over, say, 25, more than a little inspiring watching the 42-year-old stay competitive at the World Cup level while racing against riders literally half his age.

It is also exciting that Norco appears to be closer to releasing its wild prototype downhill bike. Why else would the brand start it’s 60th year by bring in a star like Minnaar?

But bringing in an established veteran to race a new bike is still very much a gamble. Norco is already years into the development of this DH bike, but things still have a way of going wrong with new bikes. If there’s anything wrong with the new rig, whether its the team version or a production version, there will now be a huge spotlight on those problems. Even if there’s no problem with the bike, if Minnaar isn’t able to get the results he used to, who are fans (i.e. potential customers) going to blame? A well established pro or an unproven bike?

There is two ways to frame this. Either Norco is wildly confident that its new bike is a winner or, on the other hand, they’re gambling big. Hopefully, for fans of the brand here in Canada, it is the former. It would be amazing to see Norco put a Canadian bike on the top of the podium again, as Stevie Smith did for Devinci. And as Minnaar’s new teammate, Gracey Hemstreet, did with the pre-prototype Range team conversion as a junior.

There’s also an argument that, even if Minnaar’s season doesn’t go well, the sales that follow from his fans might be worth the investment.

The Source: A G.O.A.T. and his kids

Minnaar isn’t joining Norco just to race and develop the new downhill bike. He’s also being tapped to mentor his Norco Factory Team teammates, Gracey Hemstreet and Lucas Cruz and to helm something called “The Source,” the brand’s new development program.

This should be a huge opportunity for Cruz and Hemstreet and, in Norco’s PR, they are rightly excited about it.

Both Canadians have already had significant success on the World Cup scene. Minnaar’s last mentee, Jackson Goldstone, seems to be doing alright, too. It would be stellar to see Cruz and Goldstone move up the ranks as well.

A lesson from another rough road

But are stars always good mentors? Is betting on an older athlete always worth the risk? You don’t have to look outside cycling, or even Canada to see examples of this strategy backfiring.

Look at the lessons learned, and still being learned, by semi-Canadian team Israel Premier-Tech (which is funded by Canadian Sylvain Adams). IPT bet heavy on the big star for results and talent development. So far, they’ve been paid back mostly in very public whinging and boring YouTube rants.

Israel Premier-Tech invested in Chris Froome with the hopes of getting him back up to Tour de France speed. Seeing him win again was always, realistically, a bit of a pipe dream. But IPT was probably hoping he would at least be involved in the race. The other half of that balance sheet, though, was having Froome help develop the raft of upcoming Canadian road talent that Adam’s has, and continues to funnel into IPT.

Some star riders are excellent mentors and easily step across to the other side of the tape. Others, like Froome and Emily Batty’s now-imploded Canyon MTB Racing program, are better athletes than they are coaches.

GOAT expectations

Norco has already accomplished step one in the Minnaar plan: all eyes are trained squarely on Vancouver right now, eager to see what comes out of the brand’s engineering labs next. We, too, are excited to see what the possibilities are.

Our reservations could be because we’re maybe a bit salty that Norco’s switched from a focus on developing Canadian talent (in closing its factory XC program and shrinking CanCon in downhill) and also sad to see some long-time Norco riders go (Blenkinsop, Jill Kitner, Bryn Atkinson) and see Mark Wallace’s time with the team be so brief. Maybe that’s too sentimental of us. Racing is about moving forard, not resting on laurels. But still, that’s a lot of heritage to jettison at once for a shot at glory with the GOAT.

Here’s hoping the bet pays off in spades. A bike capable of winning. Minnaar’s first World Cup win since 2021. Some big results for Hemstreet and Cruz. A boost to DH development from The Source. At the very least, some footage of Minnaar absolutely shredding Norco’s local North Shore classics. Racing is about confidence, and betting on Minnaar sure shows Norco has faith in its new bike. And playing it safe is never as fun a race strategy to watch as going for the win. What a start to 2024!