Unveiling of Canyon’s first ever World Cup Downhill Team sees Troy Brosnan, Mark Wallace and Ruaridh Cunningham confirmed as the three riders.

Ever since Canyon Insta-teased the above photo last week, the internet commentariat has been at full chat with suggestions as to who the riders were.

Although it didn’t take much to guess the identity of the quiff-sporting helmet-carrier on the left (Cunningham), the other two racers were not quite so easy to guess.

The gait and outfit of the central person (Brosnan) was correctly guessed by a lot of folk. The third and final member (Wallace) was not so easy but his name was frequently suggested by commenters.

The riders

Australian Troy Brosnan is arguably the main player in terms of World Cup racing. He’s always been there or thereabouts and Canyon will be hoping he can up his game to compete against Gwin and Hart in 2017.

Scotsman Ruaridh Cunningham is no slouch when it comes to being fast on a bike but his most recent prominence has been at non-World Cup events such as the Red Bull Hardline.

Canadian young gun Mark Wallace will be very interesting to watch during the race season. Will he sink or swim? If the name sounds familiar, most likely you’ll have watched his Red Bull Raw video from last winter.

The bike

The bike they’ll be riding will be the Canyon Sender CF.

Standard Canyon Sender CF. We expect the Team bikes to have different livery.

Ever since this stunning-looking bike was announced in April last year there has been a strong vibe that Canyon were going to enter the World Cup scene in 2017. And so it has proved.

Canyon press release

THE CANYON FACTORY DOWNHILL TEAM IS HERE

KOBLENZ, 12/01/17 — Canyon can finally put an end to months of rumours and speculation – the all-new Canyon Factory Downhill Team is here. Leading the charge will be World Cup winner Troy Brosnan of Australia, together with Canada’s next big thing, Mark Wallace, and former Junior World Champion, Ruaridh Cunningham of Scotland. The Canyon Factory Downhill Team (CFDT) will be gunning for individual, team and overall wins aboard the Canyon Sender CF on the UCI Downhill World Cup circuit, as well as other top-flight downhill events throughout the season.

The goal of the CFDT is to equip the best riders in the world with the best setup, and provide them with a team and support system unlike any other on the scene. Leading up the project is multiple World Champion, Fabien Barel, who will, in his own words, be responsible for ‘‘putting the right people and the right structure together to bring our bike and our riders up on the podium.’’

‘‘Our bike’’ will be the Sender CF. Troy, Ruaridh and Mark will be the first riders to race Canyon’s flagship downhill bike at World Cup level. Canyon is eager to work with the team to receive in-depth feedback and further advance the company’s mountain bike and downhill technologies. Barel, whose role in the Canyon Development Team drove the creation of both Strive and Sender models, echoed the sentiment saying, ‘‘I believe that downhill is the Formula One of bike racing and that more generally racing is the best method for developing a bike. Being at the top of the World Cup circuit with our bike will definitely raise the bar for the performance and technology of the product and hopefully bring us to a new level!’’

After a busy off-season including extensive testing and visiting Koblenz to see the Canyon facilities and meet the engineers, the riders are just as excited about the new partnership. For Troy, ‘‘it has been amazing for me coming to Canyon. It’s really like a small family where you know all of the right people, in all of the right places, and if you want something done, it doesn’t have to go through too many people to actually get to the top.’’

The team’s staff will be rounded out by Team Manager Mathieu Gallean, Head Mechanic Nigel Reeve, Troy’s Personal Mechanic Aaron Pelttari and Mechanic Yoann Jurgaud.

The CFDT will work with Mavic, SRAM, RockShox, Maxxis, Muc-Off, GoPro, Crankbrothers, RTI Sports, E.Thirteen, Ergon, Topeak, Mucky Nutz, Troy Lee Designs and Adidas Eyewear.