British Continental team Trinity Racing are expected to close down their road team, and run only as a mountain bike arm next season.
The under-23 squad, founded in 2020, has become the country’s principal development team over the last five years. Its list of previous riders includes Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy, Ben Turner and Tom Gloag, all of whom now ride for WorldTour teams.
In September, it was reported that Trinity Racing was struggling with reduced sponsorship funds and increased running costs. Cycling Weekly now understands it will be absent from the peloton in 2025, when there stands to be just one British men's Continental team, Saint Piran.
“Trinity, I think they’re going to continue, but only as a mountain bike team,” the team’s sports director, Pete Kennaugh, told Cycling Weekly on Friday. “That’s not confirmed yet, just from the last conversations I’ve had with some of the guys who work there. [It will be] almost like a small sort of feeder team for the Specialized Factory [Racing] team, I guess.”
Kennaugh, who will join Astana Qazaqstan as a sports director in 2025, added that “loads” of Trinity riders are still without contracts for next season. “Last time we spoke to a few of them, they still didn’t have teams, which is a massive shame, isn’t it?” he said.
The team has continued its success in developing young talent this season, helping to promote Bob Donaldson to the WorldTour with Jayco AlUla. Its riders Callum Thornley and Luke Tuckwell will join Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe’s ‘rookies’ squad in 2025, while William Smith has signed for Visma-Lease a Bike’s development team.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Trinity Racing lost one sponsor in 2023, while another reduced its financial support in 2024. Speaking in September, the team’s owner, rider agent Andrew McQuaid, said he was “up against it” with sponsorship challenges.
"It's extremely challenging times for everyone in cycling at the moment and it's incredibly hard to find solutions," McQuaid told journalist Daniel Benson.
Cycling Weekly now understands that the decision has been taken to halt road racing activities in 2025, with a hope of continuing in 2026.
“Hopefully it can be kept alive but it’s very tough,” said Jon Mould, who worked alongside Kennaugh as one of the team’s sports directors. “It’s a shame to potentially be losing one of the best u23 development teams in the world.”
Trinity’s last event as a team was the Tour of Britain, where it won the King of the Mountains classification through Thornley. Reflecting on the season, Kennaugh said it had been “another massive stress when you’re constantly worrying about the budget”.
“I think Andrew McQuaid’s really taken the brunt of it,” Kennaugh said. “The team was sort of his baby, so to speak, and he put so much effort and time and passion into it.
“He’ll walk a million miles to try and get someone a contract. He’s not just an agent, he actually fully cares about his riders, which is why he’s run this team for so long, and probably spending a lot of money out of his own pocket doing so.
“From my point of view, [McQuaid] hasn’t failed. It’s just how it is at the minute. I just think fair play and chapeau to him for putting so much time and effort into the team for the years he has done. So many other managers or team owners would have pulled the plug years ago.
“He tried so hard to make sure Trinity could continue as a road team next year. But unfortunately, it’s not the case.”
The British domestic scene has shrunken in size over the last few years. In 2021, the country had five men’s Continental teams in Trinity Racing, Saint Piran, Ribble Weldtite, Canyon dhb SunGod and SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling. Next year, Saint Piran is expected to be the only one remaining.
Cycling Weekly approached McQuaid for comment on this story.
