UNIOR SINTER FACTORY RACING: INSIDE THE TAPE FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS

Founded in 2010, Unior Sinter Factory Racing has grown from its Slovenian grassroots origins into one of the most respected and longest standing racing teams on the global mountain biking scene. With its headquarters in Ljubljana, Slovenia the team played a pivotal role in advancing national mountain biking to new heights and taking number of riders to the very top of the game.

This is also a story that goes beyond racing as it shows that the team can act as a connecting point, support the local community and get backing of the forward thinking city, promote the sport and nurture new talent.

The team was created and is ever since managed by Cycling club Rajd from Ljubljana. Club started like every other, with a group of enthusiasts, but this group wanted to do more than grow and boost the local scene, it wanted to play the game on the global stage. As the team grew, so did Rajd and it is now one of the country’s biggest clubs with its own MTB & BMX school, trail park, events, race teams, and more.

The origins of the team go even further back, to pre-Unior Bike Tools partnership era, however always with a strong focus on downhill racing. The team has nurtured numerous world-class athletes, not limited to gravity racing, driven by technical expertise and unwavering support from key sponsors like Unior, a renowned tool manufacturer, and Sinter, known for their high-performance brake pads.

Since its creation in 2010, the team has competed at about 160 UCI MTB World Cup events across cross-country, downhill, enduro, four-cross, short track & BMX disciplines. Over the years, with riders like Tanja Žakelj, Jure Žabjek, Reece Wilson, Dakotah Norton, Taylor Vernon, Rudy Cabirou, Ben Zwar, Oli Clark, Vid Peršak and others, the team has consistently attended top-tier races, leaving a mark on the international mountain biking scene. The team riders have also raced at more than 15 UCI MTB World Championships (we had different venues in certain seasons), showcasing the team’s commitment to competing at the highest levels of the sport across multiple disciplines.

The Early Years (2010-2014)

The team was originally launched as Unior Tools Team and had a clear goal of supporting talented Slovenian riders in downhill racing, but quickly moved to the international squad with the joining of Greek champion Maria Michalogiannaki. In 2013 Tanja Žakelj joined, starting the team’s decade-long affair on the endurance side of mountain bike racing. The partnership was more than fruitful as Tanja became one of the dominant names on the scene and won the overall UCI XCO World Cup title, next to two individual World Cup victories, two European titles, and several top-10 results on both World Cups and World Championships. Tanja also competed at all Olympic Games since 2012!

On the gravity side, Ruaridh Cunningham and his protegee Reece Wilson, an emerging talent at the time, represented the team with strong performances in the UCI Downhill World Cup, consistently finishing in the top-30. Reece later won World Championships and thus demonstrated the perfect path from being recognized as a talent, getting a seat on the very solid World Cup team, and then making it to the top with a factory team.

Among the team’s standout performers, Slovenian Žiga Pandur has established himself as a model of consistency in downhill racing. With a big talent, dedication to the training process, and focus on refining every aspect of racing, he set a high bar for the Slovenian race scene and gained international recognition. His story continues in his work with the young shredders and is another perfect example of the connection between top-level racing and the local community.

Breakthrough performances (2015-2017)

Unior Tools Team has continued to grow its downhill program and kept a strong presence on the XCO scene, but it also has diversity in its focus and entered Enduro World Series (EWS) races.

During this time Slovenian downhill rider Zarja Černilogar was a key figure on the women’s downhill scene, securing multiple top-20 finishes in UCI DH World Cup events. Jure Žabjek, the team’s rising star, delivered breakthrough performances, including a 12th-place finish at the Leogang World Cup in 2017, solidifying his reputation as one of the most talented Slovenian downhill riders.

However, the leader of the team was Ruaridh Cunningham, who secured several top-20 World Cup results, including his first top-10 finish (Lenzerheide ’16). Also noticeable was his victory at one of the first iterations of Red Bull Hardline. Ruaridh later worked for EWS and is now of course one of the key persons at the MTB World Series organization.

Unior Devinci Factory Racing Era (2018-2020)

Partnership with Canadian bike manufacturer Devinci Cycles started a new era for the team, now under the name Unior Devinci Factory Racing. This collaboration pushed the team to new heights in both downhill and enduro. The new era started with a bang as Dakotah Norton, at the time still a rookie in the world cup, started the season with a podium at Lošinj World Cup! Jure Žabjek added to the success of the talented American and was consistently in the top 20, Kirk McDowall wasn’t far behind.

Damien Oton led the enduro team and took five top-5 results in 2018 EWS season, while Keegan Wright shone on the Crankworx events.

Team success continued in 2019, while the pandemic 2020 season put everything upside down, but finished with Dakotah’s superb podium in Lousā.

Unior Sinter Factory Racing starts a new path (2021-2024)

The team started 2021 season with a new look and a new co-title sponsor. Unior was joined by another Slovenian manufacturer, the brake pad specialists Sinter. The team continued to race downhill and later also in enduro, always on the highest level with a presence on full World Cup seasons and all Worlds. Jure Žabjek stepped in the shoes of the team leader and got several top-30 results, but his racing was also heavily influenced by injuries.

With the start of 2023 season and throughout 2024 season, and a renewed partnership with Trek Bicycles, the team had again positioned itself as a fully international team and welcomed riders from around the globe. Ben Zwar, Leona Pierrini, Stan Nisbet, Oli Clark, Aimi Kenyon, and Vid Peršak brought fresh energy and great results. These signings also reflect the team’s commitment to developing the next generation of top riders.

Jaka Remec also jumped on board in this time, literally and figuratively, adding BMX Park to the mix and took the team name to brand new places!

Cooperation with Vid Peršak is worth talking about as it is another great example of for the beyond racing books. Vid is not only well respected and by far the most successful Slovenian enduro rider, but also developed coaching skills and plays a key role in the local community and now works as a coach for Cycling Club Rajd and is managing his own mountain bike camps.

Did all of the names make it to this story? Absolutely not, more than 35 riders from 10 countries from four continents have been racing in the team’s jersey and all of them left their mark. There is also an incredible group of people that worked behind the scenes, as mechanics, trainers, managers, content creators and should get a story of their own! Was it always fun? Ask any team and you will quickly learn that there are always an infinite number of challenges, big and small, in the background. But there are also lots of good times, a lot of them!

And the most important – is it over after 15 years? Not even close as the people behind the name are still very much involved in both racing and developing local communities and are even going to do mountain bike racing things on a bigger scale (for a hint take a look at the rumors sites and look for the UK-Switzerland connection…). The legacy of the team continues to live, especially strong with riders that used Unior’s factory team to either jump to the very top or quite simply conquer it!

Photos by Sven Martin, Keith Valentine, Klemen Humar, Sebastian Sternemann, Anže Furlan, Grega Stopar & others