Martin Vidaurre and Koretzky join Specialized Factory Racing Team

Chilean Martin Vidaurre is one of the cyclists who has created the most expectation in recent years and one of those who have generated the most interest for teams in the upcoming 2023 season. It has finally been made official that Vidaurre will race in the colors of the Specialized Factory Racing Team in what will be his jump to the Elite category in the World Cup. Also racing with the team will be Frenchman Victor Koretzky, who a few days ago announced his move to Bora-Hansgrohe.

Martin Vidaurre and Victor Koretzky will race with the Specialized Factory Racing Team in 2023

His evolution has been meteoric since he arrived in Europe in 2017 to develop as a professional mountain biker, here you can know his full story, and between 2021 and 2022 he has attracted the attention of all the professional teams after winning the Under-23 XCO World Championship, dominating the World Cup in his category, winning some high level Elite race or doing a 16th place at the Tokyo Olympics.

All these results have been achieved with his previous team, the Lexware Mountainbike Team, and the support of SCOTT, but also made that his name was among the rumors of signing by the most important MTB teams and even for some months it was taken for granted that he would be Nino Schurter's teammate this year. Finally it has been Specialized Factory Racing that will have his services for the coming seasons and although for Vidaurre it will be his debut in the Elite category of the World Cup, the truth is that he is already seen in some way as a leader of the team.

I am happy and very excited to join Specialized Factory Racing. Many factors influenced my decision, but Specialized is a racing brand, one of the best out there, and I'm sure I've made the best decision for me. Their bikes have a lot of history, and the team know how to win. On the other hand, there is the great Specialized community in South America. Sure it's not going to be easy and there's a lot to learn, but I'm going to keep my style and try something crazy. I don't have a lot of pressure, so it's time to take advantage of opportunities and gain more experience. My goal is to be consistent throughout the season. Those were Vidaurre's first words after his presentation.

The signing of Vidaurre by the factory Specialized team was practically a done deal for weeks, but what few expected was the addition of Frenchman Victor Koretzky.

Koretzky's end of the year has been anything but quiet, and after his team announced at the last minute that he would not continue in 2023, the Frenchman had to find a new destination at the last minute. He finally signed with Bora-Hansgrohe and it seems that Specialized intermediated for Koretzky to race on the road with the German team and in MTB with the support of Specialized Factory Racing. It remains to be seen which jersey he will race in MTB.

I am delighted to join the Specialized Factory Team from 2023. The decision came very late, after my last team couldn't fulfill its commitments, but I'm happy to have signed with a team where I can pursue my dreams. I will race for Bora Hansgrohe on the road and our goal will be some one-day races. My target is to be in good shape at the beginning of the season and do well in these road races before moving to MTB. The Scottish World Championships are important to qualify for the 2024 Olympics and I'm going to give everything to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join the team at the last training camp, but I know all the riders and I'm looking forward to meeting them in person soon. Koretzky explained from Spain, where he has been training with the rest of the Bora team.

The strongest Specialized team in 17 years

After the departure of Jordan Sarrou and Gerhard Kerschbaumer, the signings of Martin Vidaurre and Victor Koretzky complete a squad that includes Christopher Blevins, Sina Frei, Haley Batten and Laura Stigger. There is no doubt that it will be one of the strongest World Cup teams and this has been expressed by its director, Benno Willeit, who claims to have the strongest team in the 17 years that he has been in training.

Personally, I am delighted with the two new riders we have been able to sign for the next few years. Martin caught our eye during the 2020 Leogang World Championship, he was the standout rider of the weekend, enjoyed the crazy wet and muddy conditions, and managed to entertain the spectators without winning the race. Since then we have followed his evolution and gave our all to convince him to join our team in 2023. We exchanged a few messages with Victor during the season, as he is also a very talented and enthusiastic driver, who has the right attitude and shares the spirit of the team. However, as his contract with B&B Hotels lasts until the end of 2023, we were willing to race in 2023 with "only" 5 drivers in the team. When the rumor of the B&B team leaving emerged and Victor was legally allowed to resume talks with other teams, we continued our discussions and, together with Bora Hansgrohe, were able to offer him the ideal environment to fulfill his desire to become a MTB champion and hopefully a road champion as well. This is the most exciting and hopefully the strongest XCO team I've worked with since I've been at Specialized.