Madison Saracen

Launched in 2011 the team’s aspiration was clearly laid out by Madison CEO Dominic Langan.[1]

“The first year is mainly a development squad, with a couple of people riding the world cup series. It’s a minimum three-year program and hopefully we’ll be doing much more beyond that – the aim is to get more riders into the world cup series.

“We hope to build that up and hopefully we can get some champions. We just want to get good British riders out there.”

Manon Carpenter took the team’s first major win at the junior world championships in Champery, Switzerland.[2]

The win was followed by the appointment of Tim Flooks as team manager in November 2011, but he was forced to stand down soon after due to health problems.[3]

In February 2012, Will Longden took the position of team manager.[4]

Longden – himself a four-time British champion in downhill, fourcross and dual slalom – took the reins of the team following a period of time coaching the MBUK development squad. He was also British Cycling’s rider representative for downhill mountain biking.

In 2012 Manon Carpenter took the team’s first world cup and world championship podium results.

Longden strengthened the team in 2013 signing Sam Dale, as Carpenter visited the world cup podium in five out of six rounds.

By 2014 the team was split in two. A factory race team would contest the biggest races spearheaded by Carpenter, Dale and new signing Matt Simmonds.[5]

Alongside the factory team a development team was launched.[6]

Following the split the team had its most successful season as Carpenter won the world cup series overall[7] and the world championships.[8]

A second-place from Simmonds at the final world cup of the season was enough to place the team third in the end-of-series standings.

In 2015 the Madison Saracen factory retained the services of Simmonds, Carpenter and Dale.

After a tumultuous start to the season, Carpenter would recover to finish second overall in the world cup and take silver at the world championships.

In December 2015 Madison Saracen announced its new roster and the signing of Marc Beaumont.

But it was junior Matt Walker who would make the biggest impact, with his first world cup win coming in Cairns.

In December 2016 Carpenter departed the team, with Alex Marin joining the lineup and the standalone development team re-launching.

Matt Walker won his second junior world cup, before going on to win the World Championships in Cairns, Australia.

In January 2018, the team announced their new lineup, with Danny Hart joining Alex Marin and Matt Walker.