MTB
Varberg MTB Team is a brand new UCI team with five up-and-coming riders ready to take on the Swedish and the international race scene in 2022.
It’s an exciting time for Swedish MTB fans. The sport is growing at record-speed and we can currently see a healthy regrowth within its race disciplines, especially XCO. A genre that used to have a heavy-hitting Swedish squad racing the world cups is now, once again, seeing an increasing number of riders with the eyes set on racing against the world’s best.
Today we even have three UCI-registered MTB teams in Sweden, compared to none a couple of years ago. Surely a sign of good things to come? The latest team to join in on the fun is Varberg MTB team. Formed in 2022 with five up-and-coming riders it’s got a lot of future potentials.
Ahead of the first European UCI MTB World Cup in Albstadt we couldn’t help but catch up with the newly formed team. With riders all aged between 20 and 21 it oozes young talent and hunger. Keep reading to find out more about who they are and what their plans are.
Also, remember to tune in and catch all the action LIVE from the UCI MTB World Cup in Albstadt May 6-8th over on Red Bull TV.*
*The U23 race is not shown live on Red Bull TV but you can find live updates from the race here.
Tell us about your new team?
Well, everyone on the team has been part of Varberg MTB Club since a young age and know each other very well. We’ve ridden, raced and developed our bike skills together for a long time, so this felt like a natural next step. The idea of a UCI team has been in our minds for a while, and this year we could finally make it happen, much thanks to Varberg Mountainbike Club. We’re all very excited and the plan is to keep developing this team and concept to help push the up-and-coming generation of riders within the club. It’s a way to take our racing to the next step.
Our main focus is still on races here in Sweden. We’ll be doing the full Swe Cup, some Nordic races, the Swedish Championships as well as Cykelvasan. There will be some local stuff too like Varberg MTB Metting and Bockstensturen. Part of the team will also head out to the European rounds of the UCI MTB World Cup to gain experience and race against the very best in the world.
Who is part of Varberg MTB Team?
The team is made up of five up-and-coming riders all racing in the U23 category:
- Casper Johansson, born 2002. Strengths: Sprints
- Viggo Karlsson, born 2002. Strength: Technical skills
- Hugo Eliasson, born 2001. Strength: Go flat-out until empty
- André Eriksson, born 2001. Strength: Endurance
- Samuel Örnborg, born 2002. Strength: Steep climbs
How have you been preparing for the race season?
We’ve had some great preseason preparations. We’ve spent a lot of time down in Spain together with our team manager Molle Molin and we’ve also started the season off with multiple UCI races in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, as well as arranging some training races together as a team. Everything to get up to race speed ahead of the season.
How does it feel to race as part of a team?
Everyone is really excited and looking forward to the season. There are plenty of advantages being part of a team. At races, we have a big crew consisting of parents and our team manager Molle Molin working to make it all happen behind the scenes. They help with all things off-track so that we as riders can perform our best on-track.
Even if we race the World Cups and other competitions as individuals, being part of a team is very helpful, especially during pre-season and training periods. Training together means we constantly edge each other on to go faster and develop our skills. It’s also an excellent way to keep up motivation and get high-quality sessions together.
Who will we see at the world cups this season?
It'll be a bit of a mix-and-match depending on points and how our training is going, but our aim is to do as many as possible. At Albstadt André will be racing and at Nové Město he will be joined by Viggo, Casper and Samuel. The rest of the world cups are still to be decided.
Most riders on the team have raced world cups before, but it’s still a new and exciting process. Our main aim is to learn how big competitions like this work, so that we can step up our performance in the future.
What do you think of the race track in Albstadt and Nové Město?
The track in Albstadt is different from Swedish courses - it’s very steep both up and down. Nové Město is more “Swedish” with lots of roots and rocks, which we all enjoy and is likely to suit most of the riders on the team.
What’s goals have you got as a team?
Well, our short-term goal this season is to learn and develop in order to perform better and better at World Cups, Swedish Championships and Swe Cup. Of course, we want to have as fun as possible whilst doing so. Longer-term, we want to become regulars at the World Cups and be upfront racing with the very best.
What does the Swedish XC scene looking like today?
It’s growing like crazy. It’s so much fun and also very inspiring to be a part of it all. There are a lot of younger talent coming through, which helps increase and intensify the level of racing on home soil. Hopefully, this will lead to healthy competition and faster racers, both in Sweden and at world cups.
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