Young Canadian enduro talent Vezina joins Giant Factory Off-Road Team for 2017

After impressing in the Enduro World Series last year as a member of the North American Giant Co-Factory Team, Canadian Mckay Vezina will race with Giant Factory Off-Road Team for 2017, joining a squad of successful vets and talented youth.

Enduro is a discipline of mountain biking where timed sections of downhill are tied together with uphill or cross-country sections that have aren’t timed but may have a time limit to complete. Last year Richie Rude of Yeti/Fox Shox Factory Team took the men’s Enduro World Series title while Cecile Ravanel of Commençal Vallnord Enduro Team earned the women’s crown, taking victory in seven of the eight events.

Tenth in the men’s side was Giant’s Australian Josh Carlson, who podiumed in Whistler’s sixth round of the series. French teammate Yohann Barelli had top 10’s in the Chilean and Irish races to come 16th all-around, with injury hampering the second half of his season. Vezina was 25th, having missed the first two rounds.

In a press release, Carlson said, “It was another wild year on the enduro tour. I was especially stoked to come back from a crash and score that podium finish at Whistler with my friends and family there watching. We did a lot of development with our bikes and gear throughout the season, and I think it showed with some of our results.”

Carlson, Barelli and Vezina’s American teammates Adam Craig and Carl Decker are versatile off-road riders who have found success in everything from enduro to cyclocross. Completing the line-up are Spaniard Alex Marin, American Seamus Powell and Frenchman Guillaume Cauvin.

Giant’s most notable downhiller is six-time Colombian downhill champion Marcelo Gutierrez. Marcelo has teammates in young talent Jacob Dickson, four-time Irish junior national champion, and American former motocross racer Eliot Jackson, who scored top-10 results at two Crankworx DH events in 2016.