New Lapierre PXR Racing, the factory project that inherits the foundation of Ghost Factory Racing

Lapierre has officially announced the presentation of Lapierre PXR Racing, its new factory team for Olympic cross country (XCO), confirming and expanding the information that we previewed weeks ago when the project appeared registered in the official UCI team list. With this announcement, the French brand clears any doubts about its continuity in the elite of MTB and defines its structure, objectives, and philosophy of the new project.

Lapierre officially presents PXR Racing and confirms its commitment to elite XCO

The team is born within the Accell Group, as part of its multi-brand strategy. In this role distribution, Lapierre focuses on road, gravel, and cross country, while Ghost is oriented towards the gravity and adventure segments. In practice, PXR Racing absorbs a good part of the sports and human structure of the former Ghost Factory Racing, as well as integrating riders from the now-defunct Lapierre Racing Unity.

An international structure based in Germany

Although Lapierre is a brand of French origin, the new XCO project is organized from Germany, inheriting the operational base of the former Ghost Factory. At the helm of the team continues Thomas Wickles, a key continuity that reinforces the idea of evolution and reconfiguration rather than a total break with previous projects.

The structure starts with five riders, three women and two men, forming a balanced block with proven experience in the World Cup.

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The core of the team comes directly from Ghost Factory Racing, which until now was an exclusively female structure. From there, Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller, and Caroline Bohè continue. This trio is joined by two riders from the defunct Lapierre Racing Unity, completing the transition to a mixed team with Anton Cooper and Tobias Lillelund.

An alignment that confirms that the project does not start from scratch and that, from its first year, has the level to compete regularly in the World Cup.

PXR Racing responds to the concept of PEAKser Racing, a philosophy that focuses on self-improvement and the work process as the basis for results, beyond immediate victory.

In the technical section, Lapierre is the main partner, accompanied by a group of top-level sponsors, such as FSA for wheels and cockpit, Selle Italia for saddles, Northwave for footwear, Michelin tires, and will rely on SRAM/RockShox for transmission, brakes, and suspensions.

Having one of the 20 World Team spots, the declared objective of Lapierre PXR Racing is to compete consistently in the top positions of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and build a solid project in the medium term, with an eye on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

With this official presentation, Lapierre confirms that it is not abandoning XCO at a complex time for the market, but rather reinforces its commitment to the Olympic discipline through an international structure, technical continuity, and a competitive alignment from day one.