August 26, 2002 – The most dominant team in the history of mountain bike racing will not be returning for the 2003 racing season. After nine years
at the top of the sport, automaker Volvo and bikemaker Cannondale have announced the end of the Volvo/Cannondale racing team. The two companies, however, are exploring other cycling partnerships for the future. “It has been a fantastic run,” said Cannondale V.P. of Marketing, Scott Montgomery, “and we’ve accomplished everything we set out to do and more.
Now it’s time to move o­n to other projects and new challenges.” Maud Jernstrom, Project Leader at Volvo, said the team met each of Volvo’s
marketing needs. “Over the last nine years, Volvo/Cannondale has firmly
established itself as the world’s premier mountain bike racing team, and in
doing so has consistently surpassed our expectations both in terms of race
results and media coverage.”

During its nine-year run the Volvo/Cannondale Mountain Bike Team racked up
an unequalled list of victories including nine World Championships,
fourteen World Cup overall titles, eighty-five World Cup victories, two
Olympic medals, two Pan Am Games gold medals and numerous National
Championships in the U.S. and abroad. In the last nine years,
Volvo/Cannondale athletes have had the benefit of racing o­n an assortment
of Cannondale technologies, including the award-winning Super V DH 4000,
the CAAD series of hardtails, the Gemini downhill bike, the lightweight,
full-suspension Scalpel x-c racer, and the single-sided Lefty fork.

Volvo/Cannondale had an immediate impact o­n mountain bike racing following
its debut in 1994. The team shocked the sport that year in Vail, Colorado
at its first World Championships when it won four gold medals, two silver
medals, and o­ne bronze medal. In signing Volvo as mountain bike racing’s
first major mainstream sponsor, the team also had a significant impact o­n
the growth and future development of the sport. A listing of the team’s
current and past rosters reads like a “Who’s Who” of the sport’s top
athletes, including Anne-Caroline Chausson, Tinker Juarez, Alison Sydor,
Cadel Evans, Missy Giove, Cedric Gracia, Myles Rockwell, Brian Lopes, and
Christoph Sauser, to name a few. Montgomery expressed his gratitude to the
riders and the others responsible for the team’s success. “In every sense
of the word, Volvo/Cannondale’s has truly been a team effort,” said
Montgomery. “I’m deeply indebted to our great athletes, the mechanics and
support staff, our own engineers, everyone at Volvo, and Tom Schuler of
Team Sports.” Team Sports is the professional team management firm headed
by Schuler that handled the multitude of tasks involved in the day-to-day
operations of the Volvo/Cannondale team.
Cannondale’s Montgomery emphasized that the end of the Volvo/Cannondale
era was not the end of the company’s sponsorship of mountain bike racing.
“We’re committed to supporting the sport,” said Montgomery. “We’ll
definitely be back next year with the SoBe/Cannondale team, and we’re
already looking at several other exciting opportunities.”