Trek Factory Racing focuses on youth, signs Canadian
Ethan Shandro steps up to Factory team as a junior racer
Trek is focusing on the future for 2019. After slowly leaking the line-up all week, a full four-rider roster has now been revealed for the new Trek Factory Racing squad.
Reece Wilson, the last to be announced, is the oldest rider on the squad at just 22 years of age. The Scottish phenom broke out onto the World Cup scene in 2018 with a emotional fourth place at Fort William, Wilson’s hometown race. It was the best finish ever by a Scottish rider at Fort Bill, and Wilson followed up with consistent top-15’s all year.
Canada will be represented on the new team by Ethan Shandro. The North Vancouver rider will be on his first tour of the World Cup circuit, racing as a first year junior. If the name sounds familiar, it could be because Ethan’s father is Andrew Shandro, the Canadian downhill and freeride pioneer. Or it could be because Ethan already has a laundry list of Crankworx and regional downhill results to his name.
American Charlie Harrison returns home to Trek for 2019, where he raced as a development Trek Test Team program. While away, he scored a seventh place finish at the 2019 Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup.
Kate Edwards, the 2018 junior downhill world champion, opted to stick with Trek through the teams big 2018-2019 transformation. Edwards first joined Trek along with Atherton Racing, who departed at the end of last season. With a world championship title to his name and a crew of new teammates, he’ll be riding plenty of momentum into his first year racing the elite category on the World Cup circuit.
Ethan Shandro may be just starting his first year of eligibility as a junior , but he already has a long history with the Madison, Wisc. bike brand. Andrew Shandro rode for Trek for a number of years in the early 2000’s, and continues to represent the brand. This led to Ethan scoring his first video part at just five years old, appearing in Andrews segment of The Collective’s Seasons movie:
