There’s something fishy happening in World Cup racing. Literally. Two of the sport’s biggest teams are both, within a couple weeks, pushing canned fish. As race fuel.
First, we have Finn Iles looking slightly bewildered while standing over a table full of canned fish from the Spanish group Frinsa Solo. One of the larger European manufacturers of canned seafood, Frinsa Solo’s sponsored Bruni and, now, Specialized Gravity for a couple years. Maybe this is the secred to his slow-burning speed?
Now, today, Trek’s rebranded both its downhill and cross country teams after a fish sponsor. Trek Factory Racing is now Trek-Unbroken. And what is Unbroken? Well, as Trek says, “Unbroken is a dissolvable tablet made from hydrolyzed salmon protein, sourced from fresh ASC-certified Norwegian salmon.”
The move comes complete with a very auspiciously fishy fresh kit. It’s a change from Trek’s usually very staid and unchanging blocks of colours, as you’ll see in the recent Lidl-Trek kit. If you’re not only changing your team name but changing your kit to look like your new sponsors… uh… raw material? Then Unbroken must be a bit part of the Trek mountain bike program.
Trek also added more European influence, in the form of Nina Graf. The 27-year-old German champion is one of the replacements for Canada’s Gunnar Holmgren and the U.S.A.’s Madigan Munro, both of whom exited Trek Factory Racing just days before the rebrand to Trek-Unbroken.
So what have we learned from all this? Is fish food the next fad in race fuel? It’s probably better for the riders than the high-carb craze roadies and the gravel gang are being subjecteted to. Natural food, and foods that are food, are better for you than processed foods. Or, at least, natural foods are better funded.
And, I guess, be careful who you share the gondola with when the World Cup lands in Whistler next year…