Challenge Echelon Racing returns in 2025 on the Continental degree for a 3rd 12 months our of eight seasons, confirming a 15-rider roster seeking to replicate, or go larger, than their 26 race wins from this previous season. Veterans Stephen Bassett, Brendan Rhim and Scott McGill type a stable base with long-term targets mounted on illustration on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Video games.
Main the squad since 2022, Tyler Stites heads to Caja Rural-Seguros RGA on a two-year contract. The 26-year-old all-rounder has completed on the rostrum at US Professional nationals within the time trial or highway race every of the final three years. He accounted for 18 stage or classification podium this previous season, together with the GC win at Tour of the Gila.Â
Solely two different riders depart, Zach Gregg and Matt Zimmer, whereas 11 riders return, together with Rhim and McGill who accounted for 4 stage wins throughout occasions within the US, France and Portugal. 4 new riders embody US riders Cole Davis, Kieran Haug and Troy Fields plus Jonas Walton, the U23 Canadian ITT nationwide champion.
“We’re coming off of our most profitable season because the crew was based in 2016. With a complete of 26 wins that included a Nationwide Championship, a number of North American GC wins, and 5 UCI Europe Tour victories, replicating these outcomes is goal primary,” Eric Hill, crew founder and race director for Challenge Echelon Racing, instructed Cyclingnews.
“Over the previous couple of seasons, Tyler Stites has been a serious focus of our race plans. Together with his departure, alternative goes to come back calling for lots of riders. The power of our crew is the crew, guys simply stepping up, holding themselves accountable, and profiting from alternatives.”
Stites was a constant performer at US Professional Nationals, however it was Bassett who delivered a victory final 12 months in shocking style on the US Professional males’s criterium championship in Charleston, West Virginia. The truth is, Challenge Echelon Racing swept the elite males’s podium on the crit championships, Rhim in second and McGill in third.
Bassett, now 29 years outdated, gained notoriety in 2019 when he stole the present in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee on the US Professional Highway Nationals, ending three seconds behind winner Alex Howes for the silver medal. This previous April, his Denver Disruptors crew out of the blue folded, and he was offered a roster spot on Challenge Echelon, simply in time to thank them with a stars-and-stripes jersey at Highway Nationals two weeks later.
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
“So overjoyed to be racing my bike and to convey house the celebrities and stripes criterium title! In all the pleasure, I type of forgot that this was my first race with Challenge Echelon Racing and I can not thank each member of the crew sufficient for welcoming me with such open arms,” Bassett had posted to social media.
Hill stated the crew would proceed to lean on Bassett for management in 2025, however that “any rider can win on any given day.”
“Clearly, there are cultural leaders within the crew, guys like Sam Boardman, Ricky Arnopol and Laurent Gervais who typically play the function of the last word teammate, and riders with loads of expertise to lean on like Brendan Rhim, Scott McGill and Stephen Bassett. However the power of our crew is the crew, guys simply stepping up, holding themselves accountable, and profiting from alternatives,” Hill stated.
“Hugo Scala, who received the crew’s first .Professional on the Vuelta Portugal, is actually set for a breakout 12 months. Riders like Laurent Gervais, who typically performed the function of tremendous domestique, may even see new alternatives.”
Of the brand new expertise, Hill anticipated the quartet to contribute straight away, with Fields and Walton specifically bringing power in time trials.
Fields, a 21-year-old from California, was the silver medallist at US nationals within the males’s junior time trial, and likewise completed second within the ITT at Tucson Bicycle Traditional. He displayed his versatility with a stage win at Vuelta Ciclista a Zamora, and likewise had prime fives at Highlands Gravel Traditional and Boulder Roubaix.
Walton, son of Canadian highway race champion and Olympian Brian Walton, rode the final two seasons on the Continental degree with Staff Ecoflo Chronos. The 20-year-old has a pair of collegiate nationwide titles and completed fourth on GC at Tour of the Gila.
‘I used to be drawn to Challenge Echelon resulting from their potential to search out success in a wide range of races. Whether or not that’s North American or European racing, stage outcomes or GC wins, and a variety of outcomes all throughout their roster. It appears to be like like an awesome crew with loads of alternatives to develop,” Walton stated in a crew assertion.
Hill stated the lineup ought to ship Challenge Echelon Racing as one of the vital prolific groups in North America, with US Nationwide Championships as a prime goal, in addition to a European calendar. Â
“Long run, we have now set a aim of being the highest UCI Continental Staff on this planet by the 2028 LA Olympics the place we hope to have sturdy illustration of Challenge Echelon Racing Athletes, in addition to veteran athletes within the Paralympic Video games. By way of these items, our hope is that we’re inspiring the expansion of biking in North America and utilizing our platform to share our mission to coach, equip and empower veterans by means of bodily exercise.”
Challenge Echelon Racing roster 2025
- Ricky Arnopol (USA)
- Stephen Bassett (USA)
- Cade Bickmore (USA)
- Sam Boardman (USA)
- Caleb Classen (USA)
- Ethan Craine (New Zealand)
- Cole Davis – (USA)
- Laurent Gervais (CAN)
- Kieran Haug – (USA)
- Troy Fields – (USA)
- Colby Lange (USA)
- Scott McGill (USA)
- Brendan Rhim (USA)
- Hugo Scala (USA)
- Jonas Walton (CAN)
