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Team Spectra Wiggle powered by Vitus, a new UK-based, gender-balanced, multidisciplinary cycling team, has launched.
A gender-balanced line-up of riders will be competing across many different cycling disciplines and looking to tackle records and challenges outside the usual racing sphere.
The project begins in 2021 with the aim of holding UCI licenses to all major cycling disciplines, road, MTB and CX by 2024. Though currently non-professional, the team boasts a number of mixed discipline talents including Zwift world number one Christopher McGlinchey and UCI cyclocross race winner Amira Mellor. The team will become registered as UCI cyclocross team from September.
Though the team will be focused on traditional races such as the Tour Series, National Points Series, and CX World Cups, Spectra Racing will also run a programme of more ‘unusual’ events and challenges. These will include Grinduro and the TransPyrenees as well as attempts to break established records such as the British Coast to Coast, Pennine Bridleway and South Downs Way.
Team principal Bruce Dalton said: “We think that building a different path for the sport starts with teams taking the step to do things differently. We want to inspire others to do the same and for riders to look beyond riding just one style of cycling.” Operations manager Josh Hand went on to say: “We were keen to try and get out of the rut that cycling has been in, repeating the same thing with an expectation of different results.”
Wiggle’s head of marketing Sarah Pain was ‘delighted’ to help build the project from the beginning, committing to supporting the team’s innovative approach: “Wiggle has huge respect for amateur and pro racing teams, but the ethos of Team Spectra offers something new and valuable to the sport. It’s an exciting new perspective and way of doing things that makes elite cycling more accessible to everyone. We hope cyclists of all stripes find the launch of Team Spectra just as inspirational as we do.”
Vitus Bikes brand marketing manager Alex James added: “ Vitus are excited to be working with a team that’s going out with the intention of doing something different within cycling. As a brand, we are keen to support real racing, and are looking forward to seeing the team compete across a variety of disciplines on our bikes.”
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