MTB signing of the year: Luca Martin joins Decathlon Ford and will debut the new 32-inch Van Rysel

The Decathlon MTB project has just made two impactful announcements at once. Coinciding with the presentation of the new Van Rysel RCR-XC 32 inches, we have learned that Luca Martin will race with the Decathlon Ford Racing Team starting in 2027. The Frenchman arrives as one of the most significant signings in the market after finishing 2026 as the overall winner of the World Cup in both XCO and Short Track.

Luca Martin signs with Decathlon Ford for 2027

The disappearance of Cannondale Factory Racing at the end of this season left several of the most sought-after riders in the international XCO market, but Luca Martin was probably one of the most desired pieces. With only two seasons in the Elite category, the Frenchman has gone from being one of the most promising talents to becoming one of the references in the World Cup.

Martin reached the Elite category in 2025 after finishing his Under-23 stage with the title of Under-23 XCO World Champion in Pal Arinsal 2024. His adaptation was practically immediate, and in his first season among the best, he already achieved victories in the World Cup in both XCO and Short Track.

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But it was in 2026 when his progression truly exploded. Martin has accumulated ten podiums in the World Cup between XCO and XCC, with a consistency that has finally allowed him to win both overall classifications.

In XCO, he added two consecutive victories, in Lenzerheide and La Thuile, as well as three second places in YongPyong, Nové Město, and Leogang. In Short Track, he did not manage to win any races, but his consistency was even greater, finishing second in Lenzerheide, La Thuile, Haute-Savoie, and Soldier Hollow, as well as third in Leogang.

That is to say, for a good part of the season, Martin practically made the podium his usual position. Even when he was no longer among the top three, he continued to accumulate enough points to maintain control of both overall standings and arrived in Lake Placid with the XCO title already secured. There, he finished fourth in the last Short Track to also confirm the XCC overall and fifth in the XCO that definitively closed the season. 

Decathlon brings together the World Cup champion and a new 32" bike

The signing is even more significant due to the timing of its arrival. Decathlon Ford will face 2027 with a deeply renewed project, starting with the change from Rockrider to Van Rysel as the supplier of bikes and equipment.

The newly presented RCR-XC will be the bike with which the team will compete in the World Cup, and at least in the prototype shown now, the French brand has decided to bet directly on 32-inch wheels, a technology that is set to become one of the major technical themes of the upcoming season.

And it will be precisely Luca Martin who will be one of the riders responsible for bringing that project to competition. Van Rysel already includes him among the reference names of its new stage in MTB alongside Samara Maxwell and Savilia Blunk. 

For Decathlon Ford, incorporating the current champion of the two men's overall standings means securing a rider who, despite his youth, has already demonstrated the ability to win and, above all, to maintain an extraordinarily consistent performance throughout an entire season.

Luca Martin thus arrives at Decathlon in full sporting ascent and with a new 32-inch RCR-XC under his feet. By age, progression, and results, everything points to the fact that the Frenchman will be one of the major protagonists of international XCO in the coming years.