Trek adds three top gravel racers to their 2024 off-road team

Trek has announced the addition of Russell Finsterwald, Torbjorn Andre Røed and Haley Hunter Smith to their Driftless off-road program.

The three top gravel riders will join the current Trek rider Paige Onweller for the 2024 gravel and mountain bike seasons in North America. While Trek Driftless has not announced its official schedule, all four riders are part of the Life Time Grand Prix line-up for 2024.

Kiel Reijnen, Ruth Edwards and Amity Rockwell will all be departing the Driftless program, with Ruth Edwards returning to racing on the road with Human Powered Health after two seasons of racing off-road in the United States.

“The program is undergoing a lot of big changes, but the mission is the same: To empower athletes to have an absolute blast at the most unique races in the world, and to show off cycling’s ability to tell unforgettable stories and build community using just two wheels,” Trek wrote in a statement about their new line-up.

In terms of additions, Trek could have hardly made a bigger swing with the new faces. Haley Hunter Smith, a former Olympic mountain biker from Canada, was the winner of the Life Time Grand Prix in 2022 and had a strong 2023 including a third overall finish in the Grand Prix and a win at Belgian Waffle Ride British Colombia.

Russell Finsterwald is arriving from Specialized Off-Road and brings with him strong credentials including a win at the 2022 Big Sugar Classic and the 2023 Belgian Waffle Ride California. Finsterwald is also one of Keegan Swenson’s key training partners and has pushed Swenson close at several Grand Prix races over the past two seasons.

Torbjorn Andre Røed is a Norwegian, Colorado-based rider who burst onto the gravel scene in 2023 with a podium behind Swenson and Christopher Blevins at the season opener Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, and ended the year with a sprint win at the final race of the Grand Prix at the Big Sugar Classic. This year will be the Norwegian’s first full season of gravel after balancing gravel and road ambitions.

Last but not least, Paige Onweller returns to Trek after a consistent if not spectacular 2023 season. Onweller, who won Big Sugar in 2022, finished seventh in the overall Grand Prix standings in 2023.

The four riders will all have their additional sponsors, but will all have equal full access to Trek and Bontrager offerings as they mix and match gravel and mountain bike racing.

Trek

Trek is a bicycle manufacturer based in Wisconsin, USA. The company produces a range of bikes, as well as clothing, equipment and tools.