Wahoo launch gravel team with former WorldTour pros

The rise of gravel racing looks set to continue as Wahoo has announced a new gravel team featuring former WorldTour pros.

Wahoo’s new Frontier campaign will focus on the more adventurous side of cycling, and will feature the likes of Ian Boswell and Peter Stetina, who have left road cycling’s top tier to head off-road.

The new Wahoo gravel team will also include Ironman champion Heather Jackson and proven adventure riders Amity Rockwell and Colin Strickland.

Boswell, who rode for Katusha-Alpecin until the end of the 2019 season, said he is taking on gravel racing full time after suffering a concussion in a crash last year.

In an Instagram post, the American said: “For the past 15 yeas of my life I have been on the slick and narrow path. My childhood dreams became my life, my idols and heroes became my friends.

“It’s time for something new – time for a change and a new challenge.

“There are a multitude of reasons that have inspired this transition for me – since my concussion in March, the intensity of the WorldTour does not feel like a safe place for me; I’m psyched to collaborate with brands I respect and admire; my home in Vermont just has too much darn good gravel not to capitalise on it.”

Wahoo, makers of GPS cycling computers and indoor trainers, have taken Boswell on as full-time employee and he will train to race a gravel and endurance mountain bike calendar.

As part of the Frontiers campaign, he will also produce podcasts and videos to document the next step in his career.

Boswell added: “When Wahoo came to me with this idea for a gravel project in 2020, it immediately seemed like the perfect next step. I think gravel cycling and these events are still being discovered and what’s possible is still unknown.

“To me it’s a sense of community and a new way to test and push myself.”

Former Trek-Segafredo rider Peter Stetina announced late last year that he would be leaving the WorldTour behind to take on gravel challenges and he will form part of the new Wahoo squad.

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Wahoo’s CEO Mike Saturnia said: “Riding gravel is just so much fun.

“Mass participation events like marathons and triathlons and now gravel races [are] where the everyday rider can line up next to the pros.

“Everyone who rides a gravel event covers the same course, endures the same conditions, and takes on the same challenges to have an unforgettable experience.”