Giant by name, giant by nature seems to be the rule as Taiwanese company reinforce their World team even further.

Returning to the XC team will be nine times World Cup winner and current Norwegian Champion Rune Hoydahl; 1998 World Champion Christophe Dupouey, former Cyclo Cross World Champion Dominique Arnould – both from France – and rising star Thomas Hochstrasser from Switzerland. Also joining are Bart Brentjens from Holland: the 1995 World Champion and 1996 Olympic Champion; Jose Antonio Hermida of Spain: the current World and European U/23 Champion, and the talented Wolfram Kurshat: the 1999 German Champion.

The downhill squad has been cut back but makes up for it by using particularly daft nicknames. So say howdy to current World Champion Myles “the rock” Rockwell and hola to David “raging bull” Vazquez. Despite having disgraced himself this year, Rob “caveman” Warner is still on the roster but will be heading up an as yet unclarified “extremely high-profile British Squad designed to promote Mountain Biking to a wider audience”. Allegations that this means he’ll be joining Roy “Chubby” Brown as a warm up act are unconfirmed at the time of going to press.

The team’s overall objectives will be to win podiums at most World Cups, Euro Cups and major championships as well as enter many mass participation events, such as Sea Otter, Red Bull 24hr in the UK, Gramisch and the Free Ride Festival in Lake Garda. The cross country team will also be registered as a trade three team and will compete in some road stages during the year as part of their preparation.