Alan Hatherly joins a refreshed Giant Factory Off-Road Team
Take a closer look at Giant’s new “Dream Team”
Building on a successful 2024 season, the Giant Factory Off-Road Team has assembled a talented squad of cross-country and downhill athletes with its sights set on wins and podium placings in 2025. Targeting the UCI World Cup and other major international races, the team made some key acquisitions including SA’s own XC superstar Alan Hatherly and downhill racers Jakob and Dane Jewett, a talented brother duo from Canada.
XC Firepower
As the current elite men’s world champion and overall XC World Cup champion—as well as the men’s bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in Paris—Hatherly leads a formidable four-man XC squad that also includes returning athletes Jens Schuermans of Belgium, Dario Lillo of Switzerland, and Canadian Carter Woods.
Schuermans is coming off a strong 2024 season that included four top-10 World Cup finishes highlighted by an XCC podium at Val di Sole, Italy. The 31-year-old also represented Belgium at the Paris Summer Games, overcoming a fractured hand to compete in his third Olympics. Lillo tore up the U23 men’s category in 2024, earning three wins and eight podiums to finish fourth overall. This year Lillo, who turns 23 in April, moves up to the elite men’s category.
Woods, the 2023 Canadian men’s XC national champion, also has multiple U23 World Cup wins to his name. The 23-year-old moved up to the elite ranks last year, and although he was sidelined with a lingering mid-season illness, he came back strong toward the end of the year and finished top-15 at Lake Placid, New York, his best result yet as an elite.
Double Duty for Hatherly
Hatherly comes to the team in a combined program with Giant’s World Tour road racing partner Team Jayco AlUla. He plans to compete in most MTB World Cup races throughout the year while also gaining experience on the road with the Australian-based Team Jayco AlUla.
“I am incredibly excited for this new chapter in my cycling career and very grateful for the opportunity to ride for [Team Jayco AlUla ownership group] GreenEDGE Cycling for the next two seasons,” Hatherly said. “Combining road and MTB is new and refreshing, and I am really looking forward to where this journey can go.”
DH squad gets deeper
With World Cup podiums and national championships, 2024 was a successful season for the DH racers of the Giant Factory Off-Road Team. This year the squad looks to continue its upward trajectory, adding the Jewett brothers to strengthen its roster. Jakob Jewett, the current Canadian elite men’s national champion, and his younger brother Dane Jewett will join returning riders Rémi Thirion from France and Luke Meier-Smith of Australia.
In addition to his national championship title, Jakob, age 21, also won the Canadian Open DH race at Crankworx Whistler last year and finished second at Crankworx Rotorua in New Zealand. “I’m super excited to be joining the Giant Factory Off-Road Team for 2025 and beyond,” Jakob said. “I’ve already had a handful of days on the Glory Advanced DH bike and it’s feeling good! I’ve set my goals high for the upcoming season and I’m ready to put in the work. With support from the team, I’m more motivated than ever.”
Jakob’s brother Dane, age 18, was a consistent World Cup podium finisher in the junior men’s category and finished fourth overall in the series. This year Dane moves up to the elite men’s ranks. Thirion brings veteran leadership and a winning track record to the team following a strong 2024 campaign that saw him add two more World Cup podiums to his résumé, bringing his career total to nine. He finished the season with a strong 11th place overall ranking. The team’s other returning talent, 21-year-old Luke Meier-Smith, won his second straight elite men’s national title in Australia in 2024, and had a solid World Cup season highlighted by his 11th place finish at the finals in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.
Sharper focus on XC and DH
Over a long history that goes back 30 years, the Giant Factory Off-Road Team has continued to adapt and change with the sport. For 2025, the team will again evolve with a pause on its enduro racing program. “The team was an early supporter of enduro since the inaugural Enduro World Series in 2013,” Boyington said. “Right now, the level of competition in World Cup racing is incredibly high, and sharpening our focus on XC and DH was a necessary decision for our goals in the future.”
2025 Giant Factory Off-Road Team
- Alan Hatherly (South Africa), XC
- Dane Jewett (Canada), DH
- Jakob Jewett (Canada), DH
- Dario Lillo (Switzerland), XC
- Luke Meier-Smith (Australia), DH
- Jens Schuermans (Belgium), XC
- Rémi Thirion (France), DH
- Carter Woods (Canada), XC
| IMAGES: Craig Kolesky et al |