“The reforms introduced by Warner Bros. Discovery and the UCI have severely worsened this situation”: meet Daniel Berhe, the man who has spent nearly 20 years developing MTB stars

Daniel Berhe is one of the most influential figures in the world of XCO mountain biking, even though his name rarely appears among the sport’s headline-makers. His work takes place away from the spotlight, identifying talent, developing riders, and helping them make the step up to the international elite. Riders such as Martín Vidaurre, Luca Schwarzbauer, Maximilian Brandl, David List, and Julian Schelb have all come through his hands, each of them an example of the success of a model that puts athlete development ahead of immediate results.

Born in Eritrea in 1979 and raised in Germany, Berhe founded the Lexware Mountainbike Team alongside Steffen Rust in 2008. Since then, he has turned a team based in the Freiburg region into one of the leading international names in XCO development. He has achieved this with the backing of Lexware, a German business software company that has supported the team from day one, and through a philosophy that goes far beyond athletic performance.

In 2025, the team made a decision that neatly sums up this philosophy: it gave up maintaining an elite squad in order to focus its resources on U23 riders. That strategy has paid off in spectacular fashion in 2026, with Paul Schehl dominating the category, claiming nine World Cup victories and winning the overall XCO and XCC titles.

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Few people understand the path from promising young rider to top-level professional as well as Berhe does. We spoke with him about what it takes to build a champion, the future of rider development, the financial challenges facing professional MTB, and the demands of an increasingly challenging World Cup circuit.

Daniel Berhe looks at the present and future of professional XCO

You founded the Lexware Mountainbike Team alongside Steffen Rust in 2008, and you have retained the same title sponsor ever since, with your current agreement running through 2029. That is almost unheard of in professional mountain biking. What is the secret to such a lasting partnership? This year, Lexware also became the main sponsor of Bundesliga club SC Freiburg, whose youth development model you have compared with your own. Is there a connection between the two projects?

The secret to our partnership with Lexware? We put our energy into developing our own youth talent instead of buying short-term success. When Steffen Rust and I founded the team back in 2008, we didn't want to sign established stars. Right from the start, our goal was to build a real talent forge for the U19, U23, and younger categories.

Lexware and the Haufe Group fully share this long-term vision. Because nobody on our team has to land on the elite podium right away, a massive amount of trust has grown over the years. That stability is exactly what gave us the peace of mind to extend our contract all the way through 2029—giving the kids a safe environment to grow without crazy pressure.

We have always looked at the Freiburger Soccer School—Freiburg’s famous youth academy—as the perfect blueprint for our mountain bike project.

And the connection to SC Freiburg is definitely no coincidence. We have always looked at the Freiburger Soccer School—Freiburg’s famous youth academy—as the perfect blueprint for our mountain bike project.

• The Talent Pipeline: SC Freiburg doesn't buy overpriced stars; they develop Bundesliga players in-house. That is exactly what we do in Cross-Country (XCO). We welcome the kids into our local bike school, which trains around 250 children, and guide them all the way up to the U23 World Cup.
• Deep Regional Roots: Both projects are deeply embedded in Freiburg, but we also support talents from other countries. Lexware is based right here and truly values this local network. The fact that they went from supporting local youth mountain biking to becoming the main sponsor of SC Freiburg and its youth academy fits like a glove. It perfectly reflects their philosophy: supporting those who start small, believe in themselves, and just push through.

In an interview, you mentioned that an American team manager had summed up your philosophy in one sentence: “Lexware doesn’t buy talent – it develops it.” When a 16- or 17-year-old rider joins the team, what do you look for to determine whether they could become a World Cup racer? Which matters most: physical performance, technical ability or personality?

First and foremost, we look at their technical bike skills. That forms the foundation for everything else. On top of that, their family and school environment is very important to us. And last but not least, regardless of athletic performance, both the parents and the rider need to be a great personal fit for our team.

Before working in cycling, you studied social work and spent several years working in child and adolescent psychiatry. How much does that experience influence the way you manage the team? At a time when young riders are under growing pressure to deliver results, do you think XCO is rushing them through the stages of their development?

My time in social work and child psychiatry shapes my approach as a team manager every single day. In that field, you quickly learn to look beneath the surface, to really listen, and to understand what young people truly need when facing intense pressure. A supportive environment and mental stability are often far more crucial in sports than pure power numbers on paper.

A supportive environment and mental stability are often far more crucial in sports than pure power numbers on paper.

As for XCO racing: Yes, the dynamics have shifted massively. The World Cup circuit has become extremely expensive, and the pressure to deliver hits riders at an increasingly younger age. Today, some teams do rush talents through their developmental stages because they are chasing quick success in the elite category. That is exactly why we consciously take the opposite approach at Lexware.

It is important to note that even before joining our team, our talents are already among the very best in their respective countries. They already bring immense quality with them. Our goal is crystal clear: we want these athletes to become the best in the world while they are with us.

However, if you burn out too early, you will never make it to the top. That is why, despite these high ambitions, we give them the time they need—because sustainable growth always beats a quick result.

Some of today’s best XCO riders have come through Lexware, but one is particularly well known to our readers: Martín Vidaurre. He joined you from Chile at a very young age and went on to become U23 world champion and win several elite World Cup races. How did the opportunity to bring him into the team come about, and what did you see in him? What stands out most from those years, and what kind of relationship do you have today?

We still maintain a great relationship with all of our former riders. I first met Martín and his family back when he was competing in the U17 category. His mother is German, and she actually reached out to us to establish contact.

During our very first conversations, it became instantly clear that Martín possessed an incredibly strong drive, and his technical bike skills were already exceptionally advanced for his age. 

We decided to give him a leap of faith and offered him a one-year contract as a guest rider. Looking back, you can definitely say that Martín fully seized that small opportunity and made the absolute most of it.

Both we and Martín share wonderful memories of our years together, but what really sticks in the mind are all the wild experiences we shared off the racetrack.

But we just sign a long term contract with an other great talent from Chile: Martin Ramos. 

Luca Schwarzbauer, David List, Max Brandl, Julian Schelb, Martín Vidaurre… You have developed riders capable of competing at the highest level, but many have eventually moved on to factory teams. For any team, losing its best riders might be seen as a failure, yet for you that is precisely the goal. What is it like to go through that as a team? Is there a rider you would have liked to keep for longer?

Of course, it’s always a bittersweet moment when a top rider leaves us, but in the end, it’s 100% pure pride.

We also have to be completely honest: we have never had the budget to compete financially with the major factory teams. That is exactly why we consciously defined ourselves as a U23 development team. Our clear focus is to bring riders to the absolute top of the world within this specific age category.

Managing them is a massive financial challenge, as there is no "youth discount" when it comes to fixed costs. Our material and travel expenses are exactly the same as those of a large factory team.

We don't get cheaper flights to the World Cups in the USA or anywhere else; we pay full price for accommodations and rental cars, and the young athletes have to eat just like everyone else. Additionally, we face the exact same expenses for equipment to remain competitive. 

When riders like Luca, Max, or Martín make the leap to a big factory team under these circumstances, we don’t view it as a failure—it’s the ultimate validation of our hard work. We are the launching pad.

Because of this, there isn't really a rider I would have wanted to keep longer. When the time is right, athletes need to take that next step.

Every departure hurts on a personal level because we operate like a family, but from a sporting perspective, seeing them battle at the very front of the World Cup is the greatest reward. Plus, it opens up a spot for the next young talent looking for that exact same opportunity.

In 2025, you decided to stop running an elite squad and focus on U23 riders. You explained that funding two or three elite riders would have meant dismantling your entire development programme. Are the economics of professional XCO really that unbalanced? With the changes Warner Bros. Discovery has introduced to the World Cup and the rising costs, do you think the current system favours the big factory teams?

Yes, the economics of professional XCO are extremely unbalanced, and the gap between the big factory teams and development projects is widening every year. 

The reforms introduced by Warner Bros. Discovery and the UCI have severely worsened this situation.

Maintaining a single top-tier elite rider—including salary, personal support staff, and logistical costs—often requires a budget equivalent to running an entire U23 development squad.

Since our financial resources are not infinite, we faced a clear crossroads in 2025: either invest everything into a few elite riders for short-term visibility, or stay true to our DNA and secure the future of our entire talent forge. For us, there was no second-guessing that decision.

The reforms introduced by Warner Bros. Discovery and the UCI have severely worsened this situation. The costs for media packages, mandatory paddock infrastructure, and skyrocketing travel expenses due to a more global racing calendar heavily favor the major factory teams.

For independent projects like ours, survival has become a non-stop uphill battle.

Unfortunately, the current system is designed to let the big corporate brands shine, while often forgetting that the stars of tomorrow are shaped right here in teams like ours. If you choke off the grassroots level, you ultimately hurt the entire sport in the long run.

You have been particularly critical of the industry’s commitment to developing young riders. Why do you think companies are willing to pay for an established champion but not invest in developing the next one? What would need to change to create a more sustainable rider development system in XCO?

In marketing, the industry often looks for quick, guaranteed returns —and an established champion brings immediate visibility, social media reach, and podium guarantees.

Developing a young talent, on the other hand, is a high-risk investment: it takes years, immense patience, and there is never a guarantee that the athlete will make it to the top or stay loyal to the team. 

Many companies shy away from this risk and prefer to buy ready-made success. This is incredibly short-sighted, because without a solid foundation, the entire system will eventually collapse from the bottom up.

To create a more sustainable rider development system in XCO, several key things would need to change:

• Financial incentives from the UCI/Warner: There needs to be a system that rewards development teams. This could include significantly reduced registration and entry fees for pure youth development squads, or a bonus system when home-grown U23 riders transition into the world class.
• A shift in sponsor mindset: Companies need to realize that sponsoring a development team offers an incredibly relatable and authentic story. You are supporting a journey and celebrating true growth—which often carries a much higher emotional value than simply buying a star.
• Protection and compensation for development teams: Similar to football (soccer), there should be mechanisms where development teams benefit financially when their athletes sign with major factory teams. If we carry all the heavy lifting and the financial risk, there should be a way to refinance that work to fund the next young talent.

Paul Schehl has had an extraordinary 2026 season, with nine World Cup victories, the overall U23 titles in both XCO and XCC, the European Championship title and World Championship silver in short track. Did you expect such a remarkable step forward from 2025? This was his final year in the U23 category, and now it is time to step up to the elite ranks. Has his future for 2027 been decided? Could he stay with you, or would a move to a factory team be the logical next step?

We always knew Paul had immense talent, but taking the field by storm with nine World Cup victories and the overall titles was truly exceptional!

In 2026, he proved that he is mentally and physically ready to compete at the absolute top of the world. This massive step forward is the ultimate reward for his hard work and the incredible consistency he maintained throughout the entire team the whole year.

As for his future in 2027: Since we consciously redefined ourselves as a pure U23 development team back in 2025, staying with us for his first elite season is not an option.

This is exactly where our philosophy comes full circle: Paul found the perfect launching pad here, matured into a world-class athlete, and moving on to a major factory team is the logical next step.

His future for 2027 has been decided. While we don't want to anticipate the official announcements from his new team, we are incredibly happy for him. We will be watching with immense pride as he takes on the elite ranks.

Elina Benoit has also been one of the team’s standout riders, although her season has been marked by some very difficult moments. She started with excellent results in Korea, broke three ribs in Nové Město and, after recovering and winning two European Championship medals, suffered another heavy crash at the World Championships in Val di Sole. How do you handle situations like these with such a young rider, both physically and psychologically? Where do things stand for her heading into 2027?

It is precisely in moments like these that our support system truly matters, and this is where my background in social work and psychiatry is incredibly valuable.

When a young athlete like Elina gets track-clobbered by severe injuries right after achieving great success, it’s not about training logs anymore—it’s about the human being.

Psychologically, it’s an absolute rollercoaster: the euphoria of great results, the pain of the injury, the hard-fought comeback to win Euro medals, and then immediately getting knocked down again at the World Championships.

In phases like this, we absorb them emotionally, strip away all performance pressure, and make sure they understand that their health and self-worth are not tied to their next race result.

Our physiotherapist, Theresa Sixt, played a massive role in Elina's recovery and contributed tremendously to her healing process.

We also made a very conscious decision not to send Elina home after her injury. Instead, she stayed right with us through the entire World Cup block, receiving intense physiotherapy sessions multiple times a day and remaining fully integrated with the team.

Physically, we give her all the time she needs to heal 100%—we never take shortcuts.

As for 2027: Since Elina is also transitioning to the elite category next season, she will be racing in a different jersey in 2027.

This aligns perfectly with our mission as a U23 development team. Despite all the setbacks, she has impressively proven that she has the potential to compete at the absolute top of the world.

We look back on our time together with great pride and are certain that she will successfully forge her path in the elite ranks once she is back to 100%.

In 2026, you have had one of the most international line-ups in the team’s history, with riders from Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and the United States. Why have you decided to open the project up even further to talent from abroad, and how do you maintain your identity as a development team? After almost twenty years at the helm of Lexware, what is your next big goal? Would you like to compete with a full elite squad again one day, or is your real ambition to keep developing the champions of the future?

Our decision to strengthen our squad with international talents like Elina Benoit and Khalid Sidahmed from Switzerland, Mikkel Lose from Denmark, and Nicholas Konecny from the United States stems from a simple reality: The absolute top of U23 racing is more global today than ever before.

To provide our riders – including German talents like Paul Schehl – with the best possible environment, we need this international dynamic within the team.

When top riders push each other in training, everyone benefits. We aren’t losing our identity in the process by any means: our roots, our support structures, and our home base remain the same.

We are based in Freiburg an all Team Trainingscamp are in Davos, our longterm Training Destination Partner.

The values of family-like cohesion and professional meticulousness are universal – they work just as well in English as they do in German.

An extremely important factor that made this international expansion incredibly smooth: Almost all the international riders we brought on board were already riding Scott Bikes anyway.

Scott has been a loyal partner accompanying our project since day one. Since these foreign talents were already intimately familiar with and loved the equipment – such as the Scott Spark RC – their transition was seamless.

They didn't have to get used to a new handling style first; instead, they were able to deliver top-level performance from day one.

An extremely important factor in all of this is our clarity of purpose.

After nearly twenty years with  Lexware, our real ambition remains unchanged: We want to keep developing the champions of the future.

We do not need a full elite squad to feel successful. For us, the ultimate reward is seeing a young talent grow, overcome setbacks, and eventually move on to the biggest stages in the world.

That is our DNA, and that is exactly what we will continue to focus on through 2029 and beyond.

After nearly two decades, the Lexware Mountainbike Team continues to show that the success of a sports organization should not be measured solely by its riders’ victories, but also by what they go on to achieve after leaving the team.

However, Daniel Berhe’s words also serve as a warning about the future of XCO. As World Cup budgets and demands continue to grow, the teams responsible for developing the next generation of riders are facing increasingly difficult conditions. Lexware has secured its future through 2029, but the debate raised by its team manager goes far beyond his own team: who develops the champions of tomorrow, and what support do those taking on that responsibility receive?