Erik Hægstad signs for 2 years with KMC Orbea

The KMC Orbea team continues to be the most active in signings for the next XCO season and has just announced that the young Norwegian Erik Hægstad will compete with them from January.

Erik Hægstad signs for KMC Orbea

His name is not well known to the general public, but Erik Hægstad has been Norwegian national XCO champion since 2019, he is currently number 26 in the UCI ranking and his upward evolution in the World Cup could place him as a regular in the Top 10 for the next few years. The KMC Orbea team has taken notice of him as a bet for the future and Hægstad will compete with them for the next two seasons.

"I am very happy to start this adventure with the KMC Orbea team. I first met my teammates while visiting the Orbea factory. It was a first for me and I found it very interesting. I can't wait to start the season. For the first time in my career, I'm turning professional and this is a big step forward after several years racing in my national team colors. Next year, I want to get back into the top ten of the World Cup, which I was already able to do in 2019. I know that everything will be in place for me to take this step. Bring it on, 2022!". Hægstad explained after the announcement of his signing.

Pierre Lebreton, the team's director, explained the signing: "I noticed Erik in 2019 on the last World Cup rounds where he did well, finishing with a top 10 in the Snowshoe finals. He then had an empty year in 2020, being ill at the beginning of the season and after that he was not allowed to race abroad because of Covid, like all Norwegian athletes. We were happy to see him return to racing this season, and when we spoke with him and Eddy Knudsen (the Norwegian national coach) it just made sense for us to work together!"

With this new addition, KMC Orbea has been reinforced in a few weeks with the Belgian Pierre De Froidmont, the Estonian Janika Loiv and the Danish Sebastian Fini. We will see if there are still some more signings or if the team will remain like this for 2022.