Maghalie Rochette launches new CX Fever project
As Clif Pro Team announces restructuring, Canadian charts her own path with solo project
2017 Canadian cyclocross national champion Maghalie Rochette has announced she is leaving Clif Pro Team to start her own program.
The new project, CX Fever Racing Team Powered by Specialized, comes after Rochette’s announcent that she will leave powerhouse Clif Pro women’s cycling team, as of 1 September 2018. The new project will see Rochette focus entirely on racing cyclocross going forward.
The departure is an amicable one. Rochette, has been on the Clif Pro team for five years, since she was 19 years old. In the announcement of her new project, she took time to thank her former team. “I owe everyone involved in the Clif Pro Team an enormous thank you, from the very bottom of my heart.”
Rochette goes solo: CX Fever Racing Team Powered by Specialized
Clif Bars, which will continue supporting Rochette as one of the sponsors of her new CX Fever Racing Team, was supportive of it’s former athlete’s new direction. In its own announcement confirming Rochette’s departure from Clif Pro Team, the team stated “while Maghalie is leaving the team, she will always be in the club and remains one of the shining lights of the Luna/Clif Pro Team’s storied history.”
Rochette’s journey to forming her own project started back in February 2017. A phenomenal 5th place performance at cyclocross World Championship’s in Bieles, Luxembourg left her asking “What if I committed 100% to cyclocross.” Just 15 seconds separated the Canadian from her fellow Clif Pro Team member Katerina Nash, third in Bieles. Further, only 36 seconds separated Rochette from Sanne Cant, who won that world championship race.
Support for the CX Fever Racing Team Powered by Specialized comes from a roster of sponsors. Specialized will provide bikes for Rochette going forward. The full list of sponsors supporting the team are Clif Bar & Co., Specialized Bicycles, TenSpeed Hero, SRAM, Roval, Challenge Tires, Oakley, Giro Cycling, Feedback Sports, and Horst Engineering.
Rochette will start her 2018/2019 Cyclocross season with several domestic events leading into the two North American World Cup stops. The Canadian will continue racing on her home continent until November, then depart for a three month European campaign. First, she will look to regain her Pan American cyclocross championship title, when Pan Am’s land in Canada for the first time at Midland, Ont. on 3-4 November. She will then race Canadian cyclocross national championships on 11 November in Peterborough, Ont.
Full details and press release for CX Fever Racing Team Powered by Specialized can be found on Rochette’s website.
Clif Pro Team to restructure, refocus for 2019
Clif Pro Team followed up its confirmation of Rochette’s departure with a second announcement. The longstanding Women’s cycling team will be restructuring for 2019.
Going forward, the announcement says, “Clif Bar is restructuring its race teams by discipline, dividing them between dirt and pavement.” The restructuring is intended to better meet the interests of its title sponsor, Clif Bar & Co.
Clif Pro Team’s announcement is cagey about the form and featured riders for the new team. Further details will arrive in an announcement from Interbike, which takes place mid-September.
The team, which hosts current mountain bike and cyclocross World Cup racers, including Canadian Olympic medallist Catharine Pendrel, does say it’s high performance program will remain, for now. While details were spares, the announcement said that “the team will maintain a World Cup mtb and cross presence on a more limited basis for at least the next year.” Crucially for several of its athletes, this does not necessarily guarantee support through the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Because it is aligning itself with Clif Bar & Co.’s branding and event support, the team states “our primary focus will be on important North American events.” It will will also contest some “domestic cyclocross and some gravel racing.”
One of the longest standing and most successful Women’s off-road teams, Clif Pro Team has existed since 2002. It was initially known under the Luna name, before rebranding as Clif more recently.
Clif Pro Team’s current roster includes Penrel; perennial cross-discipline World Cup threat Katerina Nash; American XCO veteran Lea Davison; rising American World Cup talents Haley Batten and Hannah Rae Finchamp; Italian XCO and cyclocross vetran Eva Lechner and, until recently, Maghalie Rochette.
